


Broken

by Panic_at_the_everywhere



Category: Sander Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Angst, Broken Bone, Fluff, M/M, english is not my first language, first Sander Sides fanfiction, first fanfiction in english, swearing here and there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-30
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-02-08 18:45:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 37,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12870747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Panic_at_the_everywhere/pseuds/Panic_at_the_everywhere
Summary: Anxiety breaks his leg and the others have to take care of him. Princey develops feelings for Virgil, but can the anxious side trust Roman after all?And what do these mysterious quakes mean, which happen in the mindscape?Ok, this is my first fanfiction in english. Therefore please excuse my mistakes.Update: I have an awesome beta reader, who corrects my mistakes.





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> As I said in the summary this is my first fanfiction in english and english is not my first language. But I have an awesome beta reader, and I'm very grateful for his efforts.

It was a regular afternoon. Three parts of Thomas’s personality were in the living room of the mindscape, preparing to watch a Disney movie.

Morality brought some snacks from the kitchen to the table in front of them, Princey chose one of the many DVDs on the shelf, and Logic sat in an armchair reading a book.

When everything was settled, they sat there, waiting.

“Where is he?” Roman asked impatiently, rolling his eyes.

“I'm gonna call him,” Patton said, and went to the bottom of the stairs and leaned forward.

“Anxiety! We are ready. Just waiting for you,” he called with his regular singsong voice and went back to the others on the couch.

“If you don't hurry, we will start without you,” Roman added with an evil smile.

“Like I care,” Virgil called from upstairs where all their bedrooms were.

“Well, look who is in a good mood as usual,” Princey answered teasingly.

They heard footsteps, knowing it was Anxiety coming down the stairs.

“Maybe my mood would be better if you weren't so annoyi-“ He was cut off.

They heard a loud rumbling and turned their heads quickly in the direction where the sound was coming from.

They saw Anxiety tumbling down the stairs. He almost rolled over. Then he reached the bottom of the stairs and landed unluckily on his right leg.

They all heard the loud CRACK of Anxiety's leg, which gave in to the hard impact.

“Aaaaargh…!” Virgil shouted, holding his injured leg. His face contorted with pain.

The other sides immediately ran to the dark persona sitting on the floor.

“Oh my Gosh! Virgil, are you all right, kiddo?” Patton asked with concern, kneeling beside the hurt side. Logan and Roman looked down at him, also worried.

Virgil shook his head, unable to speak, fighting back tears of pain.

“We should take you to the hospital so you can undergo a medical check,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses.

Virgil looked up with wide eyes.

“H-Hospital...?”

\------------------------

It took them almost 15 minutes to convince Virgil that he really needed to see a doctor.

He was trying to convince them and himself that it wasn't that bad. He even tried to get up, but almost cried at the attempt.

Eventually Roman had had enough of it and just (carefully of course) lifted up the youngest trait and carried him to the car. Virgil was unable to fight back.

On their way to the hospital they had to deal with an anxious and nervous Virgil, who kept worrying about injections, medical devices, the possibility of having to stay there because they won't let him go home, and so on…

It wasn't that bad at the hospital. The doctor said that Anxiety was lucky and that the x-ray showed an even leg fracture. He didn't need an operation, just a cast.

Actually, the doctor wanted him to stay at least one night under observation, but Virgil almost begged to go back home. After the doctor gave the other three traits instructions for Anxiety’s recovery, he handed over some medication, including some painkillers.

\-------------------------

After a few hours, they finally arrived back home. It was already late at night, and they all felt exhausted.

“We should all go to bed,” Patton yawned.

The others nodded in agreement.

“Maybe we can have movie night tomorrow?” Princey suggested.

“I agree,” Logan answered and rubbed his eyes under his glasses.

Virgil felt responsible for them all missing the movie night they had planned.

“Sorry for all that …,” he said sadly looking down at his feet, well one normal foot and one covered with a cast.

“Oh kiddo, it's not your fault. It was an accident, you couldn’t have done anything about it. It could have happened to any one of us,” Patton soothed, trying to comfort him.

“Let's be glad nothing worse has happened to you,” Logan said with a soft smile.

Virgil smiled a little. “Thank you”

“Okay, let's get you to bed,” Princey said and got ready to lift Virgil up and carry him upstairs to his room.

“W-wait! What are you doing?” he asked, surprised as he dodged Princey’s arms.

Princey raised an eyebrow.

“How else do you think you will get to your room?”

“By myself?” Virgil responded like it was obvious.

Roman frowned.

“Look, you are tired, we all are and it will take forever for you to get all the way upstairs. It's easier and faster if I help you. So please, let me help you.” Roman offered his hand to Virgil.

The other hesitated but then relented. “Fine,” he mumbled and rolled his eyes.

With a small smile, Roman lifted up Virgil and carried him gently to his room.

The dark persona made a face of disapproval all the way through.

When they arrived at Anxiety’s room, Logan opened the dark wooden door so Roman could enter with Virgil in his arms.

As he put the youngest trait down on the bed he asked, “Do you need anything else?”

“No thanks,” Virgil answered, awkwardly rubbing his arm.

Roman nodded, and the three were going to leave when they turned around and smiled at him.

“Good night, kiddo,” Patton said.

“Sleep well,” Logan added.

“See you tomorrow, clumsy fellow,” Roman said teasingly.

Virgil stuck out his tongue at the teasing, but added a “Thanks guys,” as they closed the door behind them.

Now Virgil was alone with his thoughts, and he wondered what he had done to deserve their kindness.

With a mixture of comfort and feeling like a burden he went to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all I want to apologize for taking so long to update.  
> Furthermore I corrected my mistakes in the first chapter (thanks to my beta reader).  
> I hope you will enjoy reading the second chapter.  
> And since it's still the first week of the new year I think it's legit to wish you all a happy new year!

He was in complete darkness. He looked around but couldn't see anything.

“Patton?” he asked softly. Nothing.

He turned his head the other way.

“Logan?” he asked a little louder.

No answer. He turned around quickly.

“Roman?!” he shouted now.

He got nervous. He felt that there was something lurking in the shadows.

Suddenly he heard a deep growl behind him.

He swirled around and narrowed his eyes to see better in the dark, his heartbeat rising.

When a pair of red glowing eyes appeared in the dark, he stumbled back.

The growl became louder and the red eyes came closer.

Then he saw the creature in front of him. He gasped in horror.

It looked like a giant wolf with huge sharp claws. It was standing upright, and there was bloodlust in its eyes.

By the time the wolf opened its jaws, filled with pointed teeth, Virgil realized that it was going to kill him if he didn't run away.

So he turned to run for his life but … he couldn't move his right leg.

It was so heavy, like it was stuck on the ground. He looked at it and saw the cast. He bent down to tug on it, but it didn’t move an inch.

His heart was throbbing hard in his chest, and his lungs hurt from the panicked breathing. He was already hyperventilating.

In the next moment the creature jumped forward and bit down on the cast…

Virgil screamed and sat bolt upright in his bed. His heart still racing a mile a minute, and he was breathing heavily. He was soaked in sweat, and his throat was dry and scratchy.

\------------------------

Roman sat in his bed reading some fairy tales, like he always did before going to sleep.

His bedside lamp bathed the room in a smooth red light. He was just about to close the book and put it aside when he heard a distant scream. If he had been asleep, he wouldn't have noticed it.

He immediately knew where it came from.

He jumped out of bed and ran out of his room towards Virgil’s.

It seemed he was the only one who heard, because he didn’t see Logan or Patton rushing out of their rooms.

Maybe it was because they were already asleep or because his own room was the nearest to that of the embodiment of Thomas’s Anxiety.

When he reached the dark wooden door, he opened it without hesitation and swung it wide open.

“Are you okay?!” he asked, alarmed.

At the sudden opening of his door and Princey’s voice, Virgil flinched and almost screamed again.

“Don't scare me like that!” he shouted at the creative side.

Roman blankly looked at the darker trait.

“Scare you?!” he said when he found his voice again.

“You screamed and I thought something bad had happened!”

Virgil looked down at his blanket and pulled it closer to his chest.

“It's nothing. You can go now,” he said without looking up at Roman.

“Wow, rude,” Princey said offended. “Besides, I can see you shaking,” he added folding his arms and raising an eyebrow.

Virgil just shrunk further into himself.

Roman sighed and sat down on Virgil’s bed.

“Nightmare?” he asked softly.

Virgil remained silent.

“I’ll take that as a yes. Wanna talk about it?”

Virgil shook his head slightly.

“Hmm, okay. Want me to stay with you tonight?” Roman asked, trying to hide his playful grin.

“Hell, NO!” Virgil burst out, his eyes wide and his face bright red. Thank god it was quite dark in his room right now, so the other hopefully couldn't see.

Roman burst out laughing.

“I would have been surprised if you wanted me to,” he said as he caught his breath.

“Okay, I’m going back to sleep now if that’s OK,” Roman said as he made to return to his own room.

Virgil nervously fumbled with his hands.

“Um… Roman, wait,” he said before the creative side had completely left.

“Yes?” Roman turned around, looking expectantly.

“Thanks for checking on me” Virgil mumbled.

A bright grin appeared on Romans face.

“Anytime.”

\------------------------

The next morning, Anxiety woke up to a knock at his door. Logan stuck his head in.

“Breakfast is ready. Patton suggested I should get you. Can I come in?”

Virgil agreed and Logan helped him get ready.

A few minutes later they carefully went down the stairs, Logan guiding Virgil with one arm around his waist. When they reached the kitchen, the two other traits were already sitting at the table talking.

Patton was the first one to notice them.

“Hey kiddo! How are you feeling today?” he asked, his usual huge smile on his face.

Virgil plonked himself down on the chair.

“Tired,” was his only answer as he laid his upper body on the table and buried his head in his arms.

Roman felt a little pity for him. He didn’t think Virgil had gotten much sleep after the nightmare.

Patton patted the darker trait’s head.

 “There, there…if you had a bad night, then you need to eat your breakfast in order to get some energy back,” he said cheerfully, and placed a plate with an omelette and bacon in front of Virgil, who muttered a “Thank you.”

After they had all finished breakfast, Patton handed over the medicine to Virgil, who took them willingly.

Next, Virgil headed for the couch in the living room, as it would have been too much effort to go back to his room upstairs.

He slumped onto the couch and put his legs up. Then he took out his phone and opened Tumblr.

Half an hour later, Princey entered the room, his arms full of painting supplies.

“Do you mind?” he asked, and pointed at the table in front of the couch.

Virgil shrugged.

“Not really,” he answered, looking at his phone again.

Roman put down his tools and sat in front of the table. After laying out everything, he started to draw.

He decided to sketch a landscape first, with mountains in the background, a forest in front of them and a lake in the foreground.

As he finished the layout and started to color it in, he heard an amused chuckle.

Roman looked up from his work and saw a small smirk on Virgil’s face. He had probably seen something funny on Tumblr.

Something about the sight left Roman feeling satisfied, almost happy.

He wondered if he had ever seen Virgil laugh, like really flat out laughing. He couldn’t remember a single time. The thought saddened him a little…

“You’re staring,” Virgil said without looking up from his phone.

Roman blinked a little in confusion, as he was torn from his thoughts.

“N-No…I’m not,” Roman cleared his throat.

“Yes, you are. Stop it,” Virgil said emphatically.

Roman quickly tried to think of a face-saver.

“Well, actually… I, um… I was wondering if you would like to join me.”

Now Virgil was looking up from his phone and looked at Roman.

“Painting? Me?” he asked, amusedly raising an eyebrow.

“No thanks,” he refused.

“Oh, come on! Give it a try,” Roman pleaded, trying to motivate the dark persona.

Virgil groaned.

“This is just another opportunity for you to show off how you are better at something than me.”

“Are you scared?” the creative side suggested with a teasing smile, wiggling his eyebrows.

“What?! No!” the other one responded, feeling offended.

“Then prove it!” Roman challenged him.

“Okay, fine,” Virgil sighed.

He got up from the couch and joined the other on the floor in front of the table.

Roman quickly grabbed a pillow from the couch and placed it under Virgil’s injured leg before it could touch the bare floor.

Virgil of course noticed the action but didn’t say anything.

Roman continued painting and Virgil tried to decide which painting utensils he should use.

After some brief thinking, he chose the watercolors and started painting as well.

\------------------------

For a long time they didn’t say a thing. But it wasn’t awkward. Not at all.

They both enjoyed the peaceful silence.

At some point Patton walked by. As he saw the two disparate traits he stopped and made a noise of enthusiasm.

“Awww! You two are spending time together! That’s so cute!” Patton squeaked.

“No, it’s not,” Virgil muttered.

“Well, I’m proud of you two for finally getting along”, he continued, heading for the kitchen.

The two sides shared a look, but quickly turned their heads away.

Great. Now it was awkward.

Princey tried to think of something to ease the situation a bit.

“Um, I’m gonna get something to drink. Do you want anything?” Roman asked, standing up.

“Iced tea”, Virgil responded.

Roman went to the kitchen to get the drinks.

As he came back, he put the glass of iced tea on the table next to Virgil’s piece of paper.

He looked at it, and was surprised at what he saw.

“That is magnificent!”

“What?” Virgil asked confused and irritated, ready for another insult.

“Your painting! It looks fantastic!” Roman said, excitedly coming closer to have a better look at it.

Virgil shrunk into his hoodie at the sudden proximity of the prince.

“Yeah, right! You’re kidding me,” Virgil mumbled.

“No, I mean it! All the coloration and how the colors blend in. It reminds me of a nebula out in space,” Roman smiled, looking Virgil dead in the eye.

The darker trait just knitted his brows.

“Are you high?” Virgil asked slowly.

The smile on the fanciful one’s face died slowly.

“No!” he exclaimed in frustration.

“I actually compliment you for once and you don’t believe me?!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“I wonder why.”

Roman sighted.

“Okay, maybe you’ll believe Logan. He was the one who taught me about nebulae in the first place. I almost fell asleep…” he mumbled the last sentence.

“Logan!” Roman called.

A minute later the logical one appeared in the living room.

“You called?” he asked, adjusting his tie.

“Yes! Would you take a look at this and tell Virgil how similar his beautiful painting looks like one of those nebulae you showed me recently?” Roman asked, pointing at the paper in front of Virgil.

Logan came nearer and leaned over the table, holding his glasses with one hand to focus his view.

“Hmm, I really don’t see any structural resemblance to any nebula I’ve seen. And I would know. I studied all their appearances and construction,” Logan explained dryly.

Roman gave him a disbelieving look which said ‘really, dude?’.

Virgil was slouching.

The creative side quickly tried to salvage the situation.

“I… I mean in a metaphorical sense… doesn’t it remind you of a nebula…If you skip the details.”

Logan looked at Roman who tried to signal to him to agree.

“Well, If you skip all known facts in every science book about the universe…then I can microscopically see how it could remind you of a nebula,” Logan said, still with a hint of disagreement.

Roman grinned.

“See?” he said, gesturing at Virgil with his arms extended.

Virgil still looked unconvinced.

“Is that all? Can I go back to my room and read my books so as to get that nonsense out of my head?” Logan asked, slightly irritated.

“Yeah, yeah”, Roman answered, not really paying attention to him anymore.

Logan just sighed, shaking his head. What a waste of time…

He decided to go to the kitchen to get a small snack. As he entered the kitchen, Patton was there already preparing dinner.

“Oh, hey Logan!” he said, happily stirring the food in the pot.

“Hello, Patton,” he replied.

“Are you already cooking dinner?” he asked as he looked over the others shoulder. It smelled delicious.

“Of course, it’s almost evening,” Patton explained.

Logan looked confused.

“Really? Huh, time flies when you study…” he said, more to himself.

Patton chuckled.

“Would you help me set the table?” he asked.

“Sure,” Logan answered.

So he went back into the living room, and with Roman and Virgil’s help they cleared the table so he could place the dishes and silverware.

Patton brought the food to the table, and everyone took a seat on the couch, Logan and Roman on either end with Patton and Virgil in the middle.

They decided to watch Moana. Roman grabbed a blanket from the sofa arm and put it over all of them.

After they had finished the first movie, they decided to watch another one. Everyone was already a bit tired, so they snuggled into the blanket as they started the next movie: Lilo & Stitch.

Near the middle of the film Logan felt a weight on his shoulder. Patton had fallen asleep on him.

“Roman, help me,” he begged, whispering while trying not to turn his head.

“Unfortunately, I have to tell you that I’m no better off than you are,” Roman replied.

Logan turned his head a bit to see Virgil leaning against the Prince, asleep as well.

“Great. What are we going to do now?” Logan asked, frowning.

Roman chuckled.

“I don’t know what you are doing, but I’m taking this sleepyhead to his room,” he said. He tried to get up, carrying the younger side with him.

Logan observed Roman’s pathetic efforts to not wake the other.

“Nope, I will not do that,” he said, and just stood up.

Patton fell face-first on the couch.

“Huh?” he sat up, confused.

“Bedtime,” was Logan’s only answer.

“Hmm, okay…” Patton nodded tiredly, and got up from the couch.

Roman finally managed to lift up the darker trait, but due to his light sleep it was no surprise that Virgil woke up looking around confused.

“What the h… oh no, not again!” he exclaimed in disbelief throwing his arms in the air.

Roman grinned amusedly. Virgil frowned at him.

“You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?” he hissed.

“Is it that obvious?” Roman asked innocently.

Virgil rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, knowing it was pointless to fight it.

With a quiet giggle from Patton they all headed to their rooms to go to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. I hope you like it.

The next day found Virgil lying on the couch, headphones on, listening to his music. Last night had been no better than the one before. He’d had several nightmares and at about 4 am he gave up on trying to go back to sleep.

So now he was tired and the medicine was not helping.

After a while Princey entered the room and sat in the armchair. Virgil nodded at him and Roman gave him a brief smile before reading an adventure novel.

The prince couldn’t help it. Lately he’d just wanted to be near the emo nightmare. He didn’t know why, and he refused to think about it.

Eventually, Virgil fell into a dreamless sleep.

At some point Patton and Logan came through. Patton leaned over the couch.

“Awww, isn’t he a sweet sleeping angel,” he whispered, smiling.

Roman looked up from his novel and viewed Virgil. He hadn’t noticed that the other had fallen asleep. A soft smile appeared on his lips.

The other two were already gone, but he continued to observe the darker trait. He couldn’t stop looking at him, actually. He was lying there, completely relaxed. The healthy leg hanging down from the couch and his face calm, lips slightly apart.

Romans eyes rested on the other one’s lips. They looked so perfect, so soft. He wondered how they felt to the touch… Roman’s eyes widened. Wow, wow, wow! Where did that thought come from?! He shook his head, trying to concentrate on the book again.

\----------------------------

Patton and Logan entered the kitchen.

Patton turned to the logical side, leaning his back against the counter.

“Did you notice? Roman and Virgil are spending more time together. That’s wonderful! I think they’re finally getting along!” Patton squeaked enthusiastically.

“It seems so,” Logan nodded. He opened the fridge to get something to drink.

“Maybe they’ll even become friends!” Patton added with a smile. He sat on the counter, dangling his legs.

Logan grabbed the orange juice and two glasses and put them on the table.

“One thing at a time. You’re forgetting that they couldn’t stand each other in the past.”

Patton’s smile dropped a bit at that statement. Logan noticed and immediately corrected himself. He couldn’t bear to see him sad.

“I...I mean, sure! That’s quite possible,” he said, pouring the orange juice into the glasses.

Patton jumped from the counter and came closer to Logan.

“Are we friends?” he asked, looking intensely at the logical trait.

Logan froze in his actions, almost causing him to overfill the glass.

\---------------------------

Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement, attracting his attention. Virgil stirred and scratched his belly, causing his hoodie to ride up, exposing his skin.

Roman blushed, quickly looking away. But his eyes kept wandering to the sleeping side.

Since Virgil’s hand was still resting on his belly, Roman could see the pale skin.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise. He didn’t expect him to have a physique that was quite similar to Thomas’s. He had always assumed that the gloomy one was thinner. Well, he was still a lightweight compared to himself.

They all had the same body shape as Thomas, more or less. Roman was more fit than the others because he worked out and exercised with the sword a lot. After all, a prince has got to slay.

As he looked at him in more detail, he frowned. Were there dark marks?

He stood up and looked closer at the youngest. Roman pulled the hoodie up further and his stomach dropped. Anxiety’s torso was covered in purple and bluish bruises. He must have fallen down the stairs harder than Roman thought.

“Huh?” Virgil tiredly looked up at Roman, who backed off immediately, raising his hands in a comforting gesture.

 --------------------------

Patton was waiting for an answer. Logan could feel his gaze on him. He’d had a crush on the moral side for quite some time now, but had suppressed it, thinking it was irrational and preposterous. But friends? He really hoped they were.

“S-sure Patton! If you insist,” he stumbled over his words, blushing slightly.

Patton beamed.

“Awww, Logan! That’s so cute!” he exclaimed, hugging the logical side tightly.

Logan’s face became bright red at the embrace.

Patton let go of him, but kept standing in front of Logan, blushing as well.

Logan eyed him, concerned.

“Are you all right, Patton?”

Patton looked down at his feet.

“What if I'd like to be more than just friends?” he asked softly, shyly looking up at Logan.

Logan’s brain had a blackout. Did the other really just say that?

“I…I…um, well…” Should he take the risk? Dang it! Now or never!

“I wouldn’t mind it,” he looked away, scratching his head embarrassedly.

What happened next was too fast for Logan to process. He just heard a loud squeak and felt arms wrapping around him. Then he felt Patton’s lips against his.

Suddenly they were interrupted by somebody rushing into the kitchen and slamming the door shut behind them.  

\--------------------------

Roman raised his hands to soothe the darker trait, in case he was mad.

“I…I…I was just concerned. You have painful looking bruises all over you and I…I…um, do they still hurt?” Roman blurted, stuttering.

Virgil looked at him blankly. He wasn't quite awake yet.

“Um…not really,” he answered.

“Good, good. I’m glad to hear that.” Roman nervously crossed his arms behind his back and was rocking on his feet. He couldn’t look the other in the eye.

“Um…I have to go…you know, somewhere. Bye!” Roman almost rushed out of the living room, escaping into the kitchen.

Virgil just sat there, looking at the spot where Roman had been standing a second ago. His brain was still too slow to process what had just happened. He shook his head and tried to go back to sleep.

\--------------------------

He slammed the door behind him, leaning against it. He was breathing heavily and his heart was beating fast. He could feel the heat in his cheeks.

_What the hell just happened?!_

Why did he feel so weird? He was nervous and insecure, something he never was before. He was Thomas’s creativity! Heck, literally his self-confidence! What made him so confused? It always happened when he was near the emo nightmare. He paused.

_Oh no…no, no, no, no, no, no! That isn’t happening right now, is it?!_

D-did he have a crush on the anxious side? That was just not possible. But it would explain why he wanted to be near him lately. Or why he was nervous around him.

Heck, what was he supposed to do now?

He was torn from his thoughts when he realized that he wasn’t alone in the kitchen.

Patton and Logan looked at him, surprised. Patton tried to hide a grin but failed. Logan’s face was bright red as he took a step away from Patton.

“Hey, kiddo. What’s up?” Patton asked innocently.

Roman cleared his throat and tried to calm down a bit, pushing his thoughts aside. He frowned at the other two sides. Something was going on here.

“What’s up with _you_ two?” he asked and eyed them suspiciously.

Logan’s eyes widened.

“Nothing! So long!” he answered quickly, rushing out of the kitchen, heading for his room.

Patton just giggled.

“Okay?” Roman was a bit confused but ignored it. He went to his room as well. After all, he had his own problem to think about.

They all spent the rest of the day on their own.

\---------------------------

He was going through a park on a beautiful sunny day. There were several people outside, enjoying the nice weather. Some were walking their dogs, others rollerblading or playing frisbee. It was a perfect day.

Roman was walking across the grass, enjoying the warm sun on his skin and watching the people as he passed by.

Suddenly he saw a familiar face in the distance. It was Virgil. He was about to head for him, already raising his hand to wave at him. But he stopped.

Virgil was not alone. He was standing there with a stranger. And he was…smiling at him. He looked really happy, free from worry. The usual dark shadows under his eyes were barely noticeable.  
The stranger took his hand, whispering something into his ear. Virgil laughed and then kissed him.

Roman took a step back. He felt his heart dropping. It hurt. It hurt badly.

He turned around and ran away, stumbling. It wasn’t the fact that they were holding hands, not even that Virgil had kissed the other man.

No. What hurt Roman, was the realization that he had never made Virgil happy or at least made him laugh.

He had always insulted him or made fun of him. He never really had been nice to the darker trait. He had treated him condescendingly in the past, and therefore Virgil would never look at him like he looked at this stranger. Why should he? Roman wouldn’t deserve it anyway.

As he ran, the world around him was getting darker until he couldn’t see anything. But he kept running. Eventually he stumbled and fell, and fell, and fell…

He opened his eyes and sat up in his bed, raising a hand to his head. He looked at the alarm-clock on the nightstand. It was 3:43 am.

He pulled back the blanket and stood up, dragging himself to his bathroom.

He turned on the lights, leaning onto the sink and looked into the mirror. He looked like a mess. His hair was a mess, his eyes were red and he was sweating a bit. He turned on the water and splashed it into his face.

He looked into the mirror again, water still running down his face and dropping from his chin.

He was so screwed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy about every kudo and every comment is a motivational push!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm so so sorry for not uploading for so long!!! I had to study for my exams, but finally I have the time to write again!   
> So I hope you enjoy reading the new chapter.

There was no way Roman could go back to sleep. All night he thought about the dream he had and his apparent feelings for Virgil, but principally he thought about the way he treated the darker trait in the past.

There was no chance that Virgil even liked him back the slightest way. So Roman decided to not tell him how he felt. It wouldn’t be fair to bother him about it. Maybe he could at least make it up to him, and perhaps they’ll become friends in the future. If he was lucky.

Roman sighed as he got up to get ready and left his room for breakfast. As he entered the kitchen, Logan was sitting at the table, taking a nip of his coffee and Patton was making some pancakes.

“Morning,” he mumbled, as he sat down on a chair.

“Good morning, kiddo!” Patton turned from the kitchen counter, smiling at him.

Logan looked at him, raising an eyebrow. The prince didn’t look like his usual self.

“Rough night?” he asked, nipping at his coffee again.

Roman looked up at him a bit confused, but then he realized that it had to be obvious by his exterior. Maybe he should just cancel today and hide in his bed. So he could avoid the anxious side, even if it was just for today.

“Hm,” he answered, nodding.

“Breakfast is almost ready,” Patton said, setting the table.

“Roman, could you get our late riser?”

_Great._

“Sure,” he sighed and stood up, dragging himself to Virgil’s room.

He knocked on the dark wooden door and waited. No answer.

He knocked again, this time a bit more insistent.

He heard an annoyed groan from inside the room. At least he was awake.

“Breakfast is ready,” Princey said through the closed door.

“Not today,” Virgil mumbled underneath his blankets. Of course Roman couldn’t understand him, so he just opened the door.

“What did you say?”

Virgil pulled back the blankets and sat upright.

“Get the fuck out of my room!” he glared at the fanciful side.

Roman froze in his action.

“Excuse me?!”

“You heard me, now leave me alone. I’m not in the mood,” Virgil added, hiding underneath his blankets again.

Roman blankly looked at the curled up figure in the bed. Well, well! So he had a bad day. Well newsflash, he was not the only one. But unlike sunshine here, he didn’t take it out on Virgil. And this will not stand. If Roman had to face this shitty day, then Virgil had to, as well!

“Let me ask you one question. Do you feel an anxiety attack or something like that developing?” Roman asked, folding his arms.

“What? No, I don’t think so,” Virgil mumbled from the bed.

That was all the prince needed to hear. He pulled back the blankets, ignoring the beep in his ears as Anxiety shouted at him. He took him over his shoulder, letting him beat and kick at him. As they reached the kitchen, Princey dropped him onto a chair.

“There he is,” he said, sitting down and rubbing his arm where the youngest punched him.

Virgil gave him a scowl, to which Roman responded with an obvious fake smile.

“Here you go! Some delicious pancakes will lighten your mood,” Patton said cheerfully.

Virgil looked at his plate. There was a pancake with blueberries, decorated like a smiling face. He curled his lips.

“I’m not hungry,” he said stubbornly.

“Then I will eat them,” Roman said, raising his fork with the intention of stealing the pancake from Virgil’s plate.

The youngest quickly pulled his smiling breakfast closer to himself, putting one arm around it to protect it. Then he put his fork into the fluffy pancake and put the whole thing into his mouth, still glaring at the prince.

“Youw wishff!” he mumbled with his mouth full.

Princey couldn’t help but chuckle. Virgil looked like a hamster with full cheek pouches.

Maybe this day wouldn’t be so bad.

\-----------------------

Later Roman left his room and went down the stairs to get something to drink. As he crossed the living room, he found the anxious trait lying on the couch asleep. He quickly made his way to the kitchen, so he didn’t have to deal with the emo nightmare or his feelings for him.

It was hard, but it was the only way he could weather this day. He grabbed a bottle of iced tea from the fridge and left the kitchen to return to his room.

\-----------------------

Virgil was lying on the couch. He opened his eyes and saw a person standing in front of him. His eyes immediately went wide. Realizing it was Roman, he relaxed a bit.

But something was odd. He was just standing there and didn’t say a thing.

Then the fanciful side slowly came closer, climbing on the couch and leaning above him. Virgil’s heart started beating faster.

_What the hell is happening?_

Roman came closer to Virgil’s face, their lips just an inch apart. Virgil’s face went bright red and he quickly squinted his eyes.

Nothing happened.

When he opened his eyes again, Roman was gone.

Virgil sat up, leaning on his elbows. This probably had been the worst nightmare ever. Why did he dream this stuff? He knew why. He’d had a crush on the prince for some time now.

He had tried to suppress those feelings and it wasn’t that hard by the way the creative one had treated him in the past. But lately…Princey was quite nice to him. And those damn feelings fought their way back to the surface.

That was the reason why he was in such a bad mood this morning.

Knowing that Roman would never reciprocate his feelings, he felt tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He had to leave. He didn’t want anyone to find him like that. So he stood up and limped to the bathroom next to the kitchen.

He closed the door behind him and sat down on the bare ground, leaning against the bathtub. He pulled his legs to his chest, hugging his knees and resting his head on his arms, letting the tears flow.

A thousand thoughts were running through his head. Why did the Prince act so nice to him lately? Probably because he felt pity for him. Or just to ease his bad conscience. If he had one at all.

 He sobbed.

Or it was some sort of stupid game he played or… His thoughts were cut off by a knock on the door. He jerked his head up.

\-----------------------

When Roman left the kitchen and passed the bathroom door, he heard a quiet sob from behind.

Realizing Virgil wasn’t lying on the couch anymore he came to the conclusion that it was him in the bathroom.

He leaned against the door, listening. Another sob.

Okay, despite wanting to avoid the emo nightmare, he couldn’t ignore him crying.

So he knocked on the door.

“Virgil?”

Silence.

“You okay in there?” he asked softly.

“Why do you care?” the other answered in a slightly disgruntled tone.

“I want to help, if I can” Roman responded.

A bitter laugh escaped the anxious trait.

“You? Help me? Sorry, Princey, but this is a waste of effort.”

Roman pushed down the door handle and was surprised that the door wasn’t locked. He entered the room and found a churned up Virgil, sitting on the floor, looking up at him angrily.

“What if I want to try?”

“I don’t want your help. Besides, why do you even care?! It’s not like we like each other, we made that pretty clear in the past!” Virgil blurted.

“Virgil…” Roman sounded a bit sad, kneeling in front of Virgil. He wanted to comfort him, but didn’t know how.

“No! You know what? I don’t get it! All this time you took every chance to diss me! And now you want to help me? Is that a fucking joke?”

Virgil knew he was just angry because of all those confusing feelings and his messed up relationship with the creative side. But he couldn’t help it. He had to vent his anger.

“Or do you have a bad conscience? And now you try to make up for it, to make you feel better?”

“No…I mean, yes…but,” Roman stuttered.

“Okay, I have had enough of this.” Virgil stood up, limping past Roman, but the prince grabbed his wrist to stop him.

“What? What else do you have to say?” Virgil sounded irritated but also tired.

But Roman remained silent. He couldn’t tell the anxious side. He couldn’t be that selfish. It would make the other more upset, probably. So he let go of him.

“That’s what I thought,” Vigil just said, slightly disappointed.

Roman could hear him leaving to his room.

Well, that went pretty badly.

\------------------------

Logan was sitting in his room, studying about astronomy. His room was clean, orderly and tidy, except for all the electronic equipment with lots of blinking lights and buttons. There were also test tubes and Erlenmeyer flasks bubbling with substances and liquids.

When he finished the paragraph of the paper he was currently reading, he was going to take a nip of his coffee. But he stopped, looking at his drink. There were circular waves on the surface. Logan knitted his brows.

He stood up, going to a specific equipment and pressed some buttons on it. The instrument made some beeping sounds and then spit out a sheet of paper with the results.

Logan studied the numbers and raised his eyebrows in surprise.

\-----------------------

About half an hour later Logan gathered them all in the living room.

Patton and Virgil sat on the couch and Roman in the armchair, looking expectantly at Logan, who stood in front of them, holding some sheets in his hand.

“What’s the matter, teach?” Roman asked impatiently.

Logan cleared his throat.

“I discovered something…and it worries me a bit,” he started.

Virgil tensed up a bit. If it worries Logan, it had to be serious.

“What happened, Logan?” Patton asked, not as enthusiastic as usual. You could hear the concern in his voice.

“I looked at my seismograph earlier and noticed some minor quakes over the last few days,” Logan answered.

“Excuse me, your what?” Roman asked confused.

“Seismograph,” Logan repeated, slightly rolling his eyes.

“It’s an instrument to measure motions of the ground, caused by an earthquake, just to mention one example,” Logan explained.

“But I never noticed an earthquake,” Patton said.

“That’s because they’re minor and I’m not sure if they’re real earthquakes. I mean we are in Thomas’s head. However I wonder what has been causing them and if they will intensify.”

“It’s probably nothing,” Roman rejected it as irrelevant.

“I’m not so sure about it, but I will keep an eye on it,” the logical side concluded.

“Okay, I’ll get us something to drink and some snacks, so we can finish off the day in a relaxed atmosphere,” Patton tried to ease the situation a bit as he stood up, stretching.

“Logan, do you want to help me?”

“Sure, Patton,” Logan answered with a little smile. The moral side always had a calming effect on him.

So the two left the living room to go to the kitchen.

Now there was a stifling atmosphere in the room.

Virgil and Roman looked at each other uncomfortably.

“Listen…” “About earlier…” both started.

Roman smiled softly.

“You first,” he gestured the darker trait to continue.

Virgil was chewing nervously on his lower lip. He always hated these awkward situations. But he had to apologize, he knew that.

“Okay, listen. I was just in a bad mood and angry and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you...Therefore I’m sorry.” He looked down on his hands, fumbling with the sleeves of his hoodie.

“No, you were right to yell at me. I behaved so terribly towards you in the past. And I have a bad conscience. I’m so sorry. But I want to make it up. I mean it! I’ll try to do better, no, I will do better!” he made a prince-like gesture, putting his hand on his chest and raising the other one dramatically in the air.

“Please, give me a chance to prove it,” he said, looking at the other expectantly, but also a bit nervously.

Virgil was shocked. He had never expected the prince to apologize to him so sincerely.

Virgil hesitated. But he couldn’t be mad at the prince forever. And if he really wanted to try to get along better, he was willing to participate.

“Okay, Princey. Besides, I’m not entirely innocent of the matter, as well,” he finally said.

Roman’s face lit up.

“So we’re good?”

“Yeah, Princey. We’re good,” Virgil nodded with a smirk.

A few minutes of an awkward silence remained between them.

Eventually Virgil looked at the TV and had an idea.

“Wanna play Mario Kart?” he asked.

Roman’s head turned from Virgil to the TV. A teasing smile played around his lips, as he looked back at the youngest.

“Sure! But don’t get upset when I beat you.”

Virgil just rolled his eyes as Princey got the controllers.

After a few rounds Roman had to suppress the urge to throw the controller across the room and against the wall.

“How is it that you’re so good at it?” Roman asked frustrated.

Virgil shrugged.

“I play a lot at night when I can’t sleep,” he simply answered.

“And you didn’t consider it necessary to tell me before?”

“I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Plus I wanted to see your dumbfounded face,” he said smirking.

“Rude,” Roman responded, not really offended.

Patton and Logan retuned from the kitchen with arms full of snacks and drinks, putting all of it on the table in front of the couch.

“Uuuh, you’re playing Mario Kart! Logan, we should join in the fun!” Patton exclaimed.

“Oh, please no.” Logan answered, but he didn’t stand a chance against Patton. As soon as he sat at the couch, Patton handed him a controller.

“Rainbow road!” Patton said excited.

He earned a collective murmur from the other three sides.

“Okay, at least I have a pretty good chance now to finish second,” Roman said hopefully.

Virgil smirked.

“I wouldn’t be so confident. Patton plays this way more often than I do. I guess you could say he is a pro,” Virgil explained.

“What?!” Roman almost shouted.

“Let’s start!” Patton said cheerfully before Roman could recover from the shock.

So the race started. Of course Patton and Virgil were fast ahead of the other two. Patton even extended the lead to Virgil and finished first, followed closely by the youngest. Logan and Roman were fighting for third place, but Logan saved himself a mushroom and used it just before the finish line and finished third.

Roman couldn’t believe it.

“What exactly just happened?!”

“You lost,” answered Logan adjusting his glasses with a small smirk. It was nice to put a damper on Roman’s ego for once.

“Yeah, I noticed that! I mean how is that possible?! I never lose!” Roman exclaimed.

“Oy…,” Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Come on kiddo, don’t be sad. One cannot be good at everything,” Patton tried to comfort the creative side.

“I think you’re right,” Roman sighed.

“Wow! Princey admits he isn’t perfect. I think that’s what it’s like when hell freezes over,” Virgil said teasingly.

Roman just poked him in the ribs causing the anxious side to giggle. Virgil immediately slapped his hand over his mouth.

The prince looked at him, stunned.

“Oh my goodness,” he said slowly.

“You’re ticklish!” he beamed with an obvious glint in his eyes.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Virgil almost whispered narrowing his eyes to slits.

“You know me,” Roman shrugged smirking.

Virgil just whimpered and sank further into the couch. But that didn’t save him.

Roman attacked the darker trait and tickled him mercilessly.

“You g-giant jerk! I-I will k-kill you!” Virgil tried to sound angry but it wasn’t very convincing trough his giggling.

Roman just laughed.

“Good luck!”

Patton also laughed at the sight and Logan just shook his head rolling his eyes.

“Okay, kiddo, let him breath,” Patton said still laughing.

Roman let go of Virgil so the youngest could catch his breath.

The anxious side glared at him.

“You’re so dead.”

Virgil tried to take revenge on the prince but it was easy for Roman to hold him in place. The youngest just gave up and crossed his arms, sighing frustrated.

They all laughed, even Virgil smirked a little, trying to hide his amusement.

They decided to watch some movies together and eventually they all fell asleep on the couch.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So finally here is chapter 5! It took me forever to write it and I'm a bit nervous about it, although I don't know why. So let me know what you think about it and I hope you enjoy it.

Virgil was awoken by an uncomfortable heat. He opened his eyes sleepily and needed a moment to realize where he was. He was lying on the couch in the living room, facing the switched off TV. Then the memories came back. They had all been watching movies together and must have fallen asleep.

Virgil’s body tensed.

He slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder, having a sense of foreboding from whom the body heat was coming from. He froze in shock.

There was the prince, fast asleep, holding on to the anxious trait like he was a teddy bear.

Roman’s lips were slightly apart and his hair was a mess, a very rare sight. But god, how could someone be so hot. Wait. Virgil blushed badly which caused him to feel even warmer.

Okay, this was way too awkward and uncomfortable. He needed to leave. He tried to escape Roman’s arms, but the creative side had an iron grip on him. Virgil got a little irritated.

“Dammit, Roman. Let go of me!” he whispered more to himself. But the prince made no move to let him go. There was only one way out. Virgil elbowed the other into the ribs.

“Ufff!” Roman let out a puff of breath, letting go of the younger one.

“Sorry,” Virgil muttered apologizing, before he stood up, heading for the kitchen.

He grabbed a glass and filled it with water. He downed the whole glass and refilled it. Then he sat on the counter and looked out the window.

The sun was just about to rise and fog was lying over the seemingly still sleeping world. It was a peaceful atmosphere. Despite that it was early, Virgil had no intention of going back to sleep. Actually he had slept very well. He had slept through the night without having a nightmare. For the first time in a long time he felt rested and recovered.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Roman entered the kitchen, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

Virgil was surprised by the sudden voice of the prince but relaxed again quickly.

“Nothing. I’m sorry I woke you up.” Virgil took a sip of his water.

“It’s okay,” Roman shrugged and started to make a coffee.

“But what was that punch for?” he asked, while sitting at the table, trying to fix his bed head a bit. He failed. Against all odds he wasn’t a morning person. He always needed some time to get out of bed, getting ready and starting the day. Normally nobody noticed, because he just left his room fully dressed and well-groomed.

He didn’t receive an answer immediately. Vigil looked away from the prince and out the window, trying to hide his blush.

Roman knitted his brows.

“You um…are quite a cuddler,” the anxious one managed to get out.

Now Roman was the one to blush.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Virgil just answered.

\------------------------

Patton woke up in Logan’s arms, smiling. He cuddled a little closer to the man next to him, causing the other to stir. Logan opened his eyes and saw into Patton’s smiling face. The moral side blushed.

“Morning,” he said and gave the logical one a quick kiss on the cheek. Logan looked surprised at Patton and blushed badly.

“Good morning,” he mumbled, his heart beating fast. He couldn’t believe that he was holding Patton, the one he had a crush on for so long, in his arms. And they really were together. At moments like this he was afraid that this was all a dream and that he woke up every second.

“Is everything okay?” Patton asked slightly concerned, noticing the absentminded expression on Logan’s face.

Logan focused on Patton again.

“Yeah. It’s just nice to wake up next to you.”

Patton beamed and wrapped his arms around Logan.

They cuddled like this for a few more minutes, until they heard the voices from the other two sides, coming from the kitchen.

“Should we tell them?” Patton asked carefully. He didn’t want to push Logan, if he wasn’t ready yet.

“Now?” Logan asked a little surprised.

“We don’t need to, if you don’t want to,” Patton said quickly.

Logan hesitated. There was no logical reason to hide it from the others. But he was still nervous about what they might think about it.

“No, it’s fine, I think. There is no need to hide it.”

“But you’re nervous, right?” Patton asked softly.

Logan looked away sheepishly. Patton really could read him like a book. Well, he was the embodiment of feelings, after all.

“A little,” he admitted.

“I don’t think you need to be. I’m sure they’ll understand it, and they’ll accept it.”

“Hm, I think you’re right.”

So they stood up and entered the kitchen. Roman was sitting at the table, drinking his coffee and Virgil was sitting at the kitchen counter.

“Morning!” Patton said a bit too cheerful for Roman’s taste. He hadn’t finished his first coffee yet.

Patton was followed by…a slightly nervous looking Logan? Roman raised an eyebrow, exchanging a quick glance with Virgil. The anxious one had noticed it, too.

“Morning,” the two replied not sure what was going on.

Logan stepped next to the moral side.

“Um, we want to tell you two something,” Patton said, taking Logan’s hand and intertwining their fingers.

“We are dating.”

Princey immediately spat out his coffee across the table. He needed a few seconds to collect himself, wiping the coffee from his mouth.

Virgil just sat there with eyes wide and jaw dropped.

Logan frowned.

“What? Is there a problem?” he asked slightly upset, folding his arms across his chest.

“N-No, absolutely not!” Roman managed to respond as he caught his breath, lifting his hands soothingly.

“I was just surprised, that’s all.”

“Um, I think congratulations are in order?” Virgil said, not quite sure what else to say. Well, everyone suspected the two nerds to have a thing for each other, but it was still surprising to actually hear it.

“Thank you, Virgil,” Logan said, calming down again.

Patton squeezed Logan’s hand in confirmation.

“So, now this is off the table, what about breakfast?” Patton beamed.

Everyone approved and they set the table.

When they had finished breakfast, Roman went to take a shower. Virgil returned to his usual place on the couch, listening to his music and Logan and Patton washed the dishes.

After a few minutes Patton appeared in the living room, holding some of the medicine and a water bottle in front of the anxious side.

Virgil removed the headphones from his ears, hanging them around his neck.

“Thanks, Pat,” he said, ingesting the pills and drinking some water.

Suddenly the room quaked slightly, but it was noticeable to everyone.

Logan rushed out the kitchen.

“Did you notice that, too?” he asked slightly concerned.

Patton and Virgil just nodded quickly.

There were quick footsteps upstairs and then coming down the stairs.

“What the heck-ity heck was that?!” Roman nearly shouted. Apparently he just came directly out of the shower, because he was still wet and just wore a towel loosely around his hips, holding it with one hand.

Virgil could hear Logan explaining that it probably was one of the quakes he had talked about the day before. But he didn’t really pay much attention.

Virgil couldn’t help but staring at the prince. He hadn’t often seen him shirtless, and especially not half naked like THIS. He had a well-trained body, his muscles tensed with every movement. Some water drops were running down his chest and abdomen, passing his navel and-

Suddenly Virgil was doused with water all over his hoodie and sweatpants. He gasped by the sudden cold feeling of the water soaking his clothes. He looked down at himself. He was still holding the open water bottle, and hadn’t realized that he’d squeezed it.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, still looking at the mess he’d made.

The others looked at him, confusion written all over their faces. Roman was the first who found his voice back.

“Do you need a towel, Hot Topic?” he asked chuckling, pointing jokingly at the towel around his hips.

“Fuck no!” Virgil shouted, embarrassed, his face bright red.

“Language, kiddo!” Patton said admonishingly.

Logan just sighed, shaking his head.

“I’ll go and ascertain the data of the quake in my room. Maybe I can detect where it had come from,” he said leaving to his room.

“Do this. I’ll go finish my shower,” Roman said and went back upstairs.

As the two had left the room, Patton turned to Virgil with a knowing smile.

“What?” Virgil asked, not knowing what to think about that ridiculous big smile the moral side had.

“Oh, nothing, nothing. Never mind!” Patton just answered, returning to the kitchen, still smiling.

_“That might become interesting,”_ the fatherly trait thought to himself.

\-------------------------

After changing his clothes to a plain black t-shirt and gray shorts, Virgil was sitting with Logan and Patton in the living room. A few minutes later Roman joined them.

“Did you find out anything, Logan?” Patton asked curiously, but also a bit concerned.

“Indeed. It seems that the quakes came from far away from here, but I was able to figure out the location.” He turned to face Roman.

“It seems that there is something going on in your kingdom, Roman.”

The creative side tilted his head.

“What? But what could it be?” he asked thoughtfully. Virgil could see that the prince was concerned.

“I really don’t know,” Logan answered frustrated. He really hated it, when he didn’t have the answer to a question.

“Okay, I’ll travel there no later than today!” Roman stood up raising a fist in the air, ready to leave and pay his kingdom a visit. It had been a while since the last time he'd been there, anyway.

Virgil was chewing on his lower lip nervously.

“But please be careful,” Patton said out loud what Virgil was thinking.

“Of course I am, padre. Besides, there is no one who could rival me!”

Virgil rolled his eyes at Roman’s ridiculously big ego. His arrogance would bring him down someday.

\-------------------------

About an hour later Roman was ready to leave, stuff packed. He would go through another door in his room, which was a shortcut to his kingdom. They were gathered in the living room to say good bye to Roman.

“When will you be back?” Patton asked, hugging the prince.

“In about three days, I would say. That should be enough time to at least figure out what is going on there,” Roman answered.

“Okay, and again, be careful,” the moral side added.

“Do not take unnecessary risks,” Logan said, putting a hand on Roman’s shoulder.

“I will not.”

Then the creative side turned to the one sitting on the couch. Virgil’s healthy leg was moving nervously up and down, and he had crossed his arms in front of his chest. He refused to look at the prince. He hadn’t agreed to this mission at all. There were just too many unknown possibilities of what could happen.

“Okay, um. Good bye, Virgil,” Roman said, but as he made to turn around, Virgil stopped him.

“Princey, wait,” the anxious side said, now looking at the prince.

“Yes?” Roman raised his eyebrows expectantly.

Virgil hesitated. The others had already said everything he wanted to say. Besides, he couldn’t stop the prince from going on that mission anyway. So he shook his head.

“Never mind,” he then just said.

There was a brief expression of slight disappointment on Roman’s face. But he shook it off and tried to gain his ambition back.

“Okay, off into the great kingdom!” he said motivated, as he was heading to his room.

He stood in front of the door to his kingdom.

_“Let’s see what’s going on over there,”_ he thought as he went through the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So feel free to comment if you like it or not.   
> (Hiding anxiously under the blanket.)  
> Just kidding.   
> But seriously, are you also so nervous when you upload something?


	6. Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 6! Although I've had fun writing it, I'm not sure if it'll satisfy you because it does not really answer the questions from the last chapter. But hey, here it is.  
> Besides, from now on I'll title the chapters to make it easier to keep track of things. I'll use song titles of music I was listening to while writing. They don't necessarily have anything to do with the chapter. Sometimes I just had the feeling that the song would fit well. The title of this chapter is chosen from the song Stars by Alessia Cara.  
> Have fun while reading!

It had been two days since Roman arrived at his castle. His deputies had told him that the recent quake was located in the west. Roman wasted no time and ordered them to get the horses ready so that they could leave quickly.

So now he was traveling through a forest towards the west, where the last quake had come from.

Roman had taken his most loyal soldiers with him. Soldiers with whom he had fought with in so many battles, side by side. He trusted them with his life.

There was Liam. He was a young hotheaded solder, but he was the top student in the soldiers’ training program, and so he’d quickly become one of the life guards of the prince.

Then there was Robert. He was the eldest and most experienced of the life guards. But one shouldn’t underestimate him because of his age. He was quick and deadly with his sword.

And then there was Roxane. Normally she was the leader of the ordinary troops, but she was also one of the life guards. She was known for her harshness and enjoyed a high reputation among the soldiers. But Roman had known her since forever, and they had a deep, understanding friendship.

Right now it was already dark, and they had set up their camp. Robert and Liam were sitting at the campfire. Robert was telling stories about past battles, and Liam was listening closely and expectantly.

Roman sat a bit distant from the campfire, hearing them talk. But he didn’t pay attention. He looked up at the starry sky, lost in thought.

Suddenly someone sat next to him. He turned his head and saw Roxane.

She was smiling softly back at him, before looking up at the beautiful sky, as well.

“Tomorrow we’ll reach a small village. Maybe we’re able to find some answers there,” she said.

“Hm,” Roman just nodded.

Roxane looked at him and tilted her head. Her slightly curled copper-colored hair played around her face.

“May I ask what’s on your mind, my prince?” she asked softly.

Roman sighed, looking at the ground in front of him.

“Nothing in particular,” he answered simply. There were just too many things going on in his mind. These quakes, nobody knew what caused them. He had no idea what to expect. Was it just a little problem, which was quick to solve? Or was his entire kingdom in danger? Would he be able to fix it? He had to! After all, he was the prince. It was his duty to protect his kingdom and everything in it.

And of course there was this particular little emo nightmare. He wondered what he was doing right now and if he was okay. But he didn’t want to follow that train of thoughts right now. This was neither the right time nor the right place.

“Well, whatever is troubling you, I hope we’ll quickly find answers, so you can continue to deal with whatever is on your mind,” the woman next to him said.

“And now stop moping and sit with us at the fire,” she said cheerily, nudging him with the elbow.

Roman smirked.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

They stood up and joined the others at the campfire.

\-------------------------

The next day they got up early. After a few hours, they arrived in the village. But they hadn’t expected what they found there. The entire village was destroyed. Not a stone was left standing.

“Oh my gosh!” Roxane whispered under her breath, as they all descended from the horses.

They were standing in the middle of the wreckage.

“Spread out. Search for survivors,” Roman said with a serious voice.

The guards did what they were told.

Roman looked around. He tried to process what had happened here. What could destroy an entire village? He had a suspicion, but he hoped that he was wrong.

After a while, the guards returned.

“We couldn’t find anyone, Sir,” Liam reported.

“They’re all dead?” Roman asked disbelievingly, gritting his teeth.

“No, they’re all just gone. No survivors. No dead bodies,” Robert clarified.

Roman frowned. That didn’t make any sense.

He looked around again, scanning his surroundings. There had to be something.

“Search for traces. Maybe they could escape.”

So they split up again to examine a larger area. After half an hour, they gathered again in the middle of the destroyed village. They hadn’t found any signs of survivors. It was like they had all just vanished.

Roman was at a loss and frustrated.

“What shall we do now?” Liam asked, folding his arms across his chest.

“We probably have to return to the castle, whether we want to or not,” Roxane said, shrugging.

Liam growled and turned around. He didn’t agree at all.

“We can’t just return with nothing,” he muttered more to himself.

Roman understood the frustration of his youngest companion and shared his opinion. But it seemed that there was nothing else to do. He looked around a last time, before he sighed.

“We looked everywhere, Prince Roman,” Robert said assuring.

“I know, I know,” Roman said, running his fingers through his hair.

Dark clouds slowly began to cover the sky and the wind was freshening.

“Okay, we should go back. There is no point in staying here any longer,” he then said, determined.

They could hear thunder in the distance.

“We should probably hurry, before the storm catches up with us,” Roxane said, returning to the horses.

The others followed her.

\-------------------------

It was less than an hour before the thunder was rumbling over their heads. Suddenly it started to rain, well it was more like a downpour, joined by lightning.

“Prince Roman! We should search for a safe hideout!” Robert shouted through the rain and thunder.

Roman knew the old man was right. This storm was way too strong to continue traveling. And it hadn’t even started yet.

Good thing that he knew his kingdom so well. He gestured the others with his hand to follow him. He was heading for a nearby cave.

After a few minutes of riding through the rain, they finally arrived at the cave. At the moment they descended from the horses, the wind freshened badly. The trees were bending and leaves swirled through the air.

“What shitty weather!” Liam exclaimed, running his hand through his short dark hair to get rid of some water drops.

“It can’t be helped. Looks like we’re stuck here for a while,” Roxane said.

“I’ll try to make a fire, so we can warm ourselves and dry our clothes,” Robert said, searching the cave for some wood. Liam followed him.

Roman and Roxane took their stuff from the horses and spread it on the ground. They prepared everything for staying the night here in the cave.

After everything was done, they stretched their sleeping bags on the ground around the fireplace and sat down.

“I wonder what had happened to the citizens,” Roman started thinking out loud after a while, staring in the fire in front of him.

“It was like they all had just disappeared,” Liam said, disbelievingly.

“But how is that possible?” Roxane asked.

“I don’t know,” Robert answered, running his fingers through his grayish beard.

“But we’ll find out,” he added, confidently with his deep and rough voice.

“Right. When we arrive at the castle, we’ll assemble a search party to look for the missing citizens,” Roman said determined.

“Exactly. _We_ will take care of the missing people. With due respect, Prince Roman, but you should return to Sir Thomas. You have other duties to take care of,” Roxane said.

“But I should participate in the searching,” Roman responded.

“What? You don’t trust us with that task?” Liam raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms.

“We’re the life guards of the prince for a reason, you know?” he added with a smirk.

Roman smirked back.

“I know. And you know that I trust you all in every department,” he answered.

They all were his life guards, but they were also representatives of his interests. When he was absent, they took care of the kingdom, and they would report to him about every abnormal incident.

“Okay, that’s settled. You, Prince Roman, will return to your main responsibility, and we’ll take care of the rest,” Robert summarized.

Roman knew that they were right. It would make no difference if he stayed here. They would have that under control by themselves. It was time to return home.

\-------------------------

It had been 5 days since Roman had left to his kingdom. 5 days. Virgil wasn’t worried. No, he was a nervous wreck.

He was sitting on the couch, glancing over and over again at the stairs, hoping to hear footsteps coming from the prince’s room. If he wasn’t cursed with this cast on his leg, he already would’ve gone to the kingdom by himself to search for the stupid moron. But he was forced to sit here and just wait. He felt so powerless and useless. He hated it. It was exactly what his whole being disliked the most. To not have any control of a situation and not being able to change that at all.

Patton and Logan had recognized the increasing of Virgil’s own Anxiety since the third day had passed. They had tried to calm the anxious side down, assuring him that Roman probably was okay.

Now they were entering the living room, Logan glanced over to Virgil, noticing that the dark trait was just about to chew his lower lip bloody. He grabbed Patton’s hand to stop him, nodding towards the nervous looking side.

Patton understood and they came closer to the couch.

“Hey, kiddo! How are you?” Patton asked smiling at the youngest.

“Anxious,” he just answered, still looking at the stairs.

Patton’s smile faltered a bit by that statement, but he tried to keep his positivity.

“Oh, come on, son. Roman is okay, he’s just a little late. Nothing to worry about.”

“Yeah, right!” Virgil said ironically.

Logan sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose.

“Listen Virgil, if anything had happened to Roman, we would’ve noticed. It probably would affect Thomas, and he seemed okay, when I last checked on him.”

Virgil glanced up at Logan. The nerd had a point. But still. They hadn’t heard from the fanciful side since he had left. And now he was two days late.

Suddenly there was a sound upstairs of a door opening. Virgil’s eyes widened and Logan and Patton also turned their heads towards the stairs. A few moments later the prince went down the stairs.

Virgil let out a sigh of relief. Thank god.

“Roman!” Patton ran towards the prince, hugging him tightly.

“Hey, Patton.” Roman returned the hug and smiled.

Logan came closer and greeted the royal side as well.

“Nice to have you back.”

“Nice to be back at home,” Roman answered.

Virgil scanned the prince, but couldn’t find any injuries. So he finally calmed down a bit. But his relief turned into slight indignation.

“Where have you been so long?” he just asked with more venom in his voice, than he meant to put into.

Roman looked at the darker trait and frowned.

“Well, good to see you too, Dr. gloom.”

Virgil turned his head stubbornly to the side, refusing to look at the creative side.

Roman sighed, running one hand through his hair. It had been a few rough days, and he didn’t have the energy to deal with whatever Virgil’s problem was.

“Look, I don't know what your issue is, but I’m really tired, so I’ll just take a shower and go to bed.”

“He’s just a bit upset because he was worried about you,” Patton said, smiling widely.

“No, I wasn’t,” Virgil said defensively.

“Falsehood. You were,” Logan added.

“Well, duh. I’m Anxiety. I worry about everything, that’s my job,” he explained, crossing his arms.

Roman couldn’t help but smile slightly. He had missed this. And to hear that the little emo nightmare was worried about him made his heart beat a bit faster.

“Anyway, as I said, it had been a few rough days and I’m pretty tired, so I’ll go to my room now,” Roman said, going up the stairs.

“Okay, kiddo. Get some rest and sleep well,” Patton said after him.

“You can report tomorrow what you ascertained in your kingdom,” Logan added.

“Of course, teach,” Roman answered. With these words he went to his room, took a shower and went right into bed, letting the tiredness take over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that the chapter doesn't really provide answers to what is going on. I guess we'll find out more later. *smirking*


	7. My Heart I Surrender

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize a lot for taking so long to update, but I think I should just accept that I'll never update on schedule. But I'm still sorry.   
> The title of this chapter is inspired by the song My Heart I Surrender by I Prevail.  
> I hope you like it!

It had been a few days since Roman had returned from his kingdom. He stayed at home for now. His trustworthy life guards had assured him they would inform him immediately, if something was happening. Moreover, the other troops and soldiers were searching for the missing people from the village.

\-------------------------

Today was a beautiful day in the mindscape, the sun was shining hot in the cloudless sky.

The sides were all enjoying the nice weather outside in the garden. They had even convinced Virgil to come outside with them.

Logan and Virgil were lying on loungers under a sunshade. It was one of the rare moments where Logan didn’t wear a tie but yet a dark blue t-shirt and black jeans. In front of him was a book as always. Virgil was wearing a purple t-shirt and black shorts. He was listening to his music, eyes closed.

Roman exercised on a workout mat on the grass in a white muscle shirt and red shorts. Patton was playing in the sandpit in khaki shorts and a light blue t-shirt, building some sandcastles.

Eventually Patton got bored and looked around absentmindedly. Then he had an idea. He grinned widely as he went towards Roman, kneeling down beside him and whispering something into his ear. Roman started to grin as well and the two went into the house.

After a few minutes they came back outside, creeping up behind Logan and Virgil.

The other two sides on the loungers didn’t notice anything, until Patton and Roman grabbed the book from Logan’s hands and the phone and headphones from Virgil.

Then Roman and Patton each pulled out a water pistol, pointing at the surprised sides in front of them.

“Defend yourselves!” they shouted.

Virgil frowned and Logan raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me, what?” Logan asked.

Roman rolled his eyes.

“This is a battle, so defend yourselves!” he exclaimed.

Logan sighed, adjusting his glasses.

“This is so immature-PATTON!” he screamed as Patton splashed some water directly in his face. The moral side giggled, splashing some more water on his boyfriend. The logical side jumped up and Patton ran away, followed by a furious Logan.

Roman grinned widely, looking down at Virgil.

“Don’t you dare,” the youngest growled back at him.

Roman sighed and put the water pistol down.

“Yeah. It’s not much fun anyway, if you can’t fight back,” he said.

Virgil watched him suspiciously.

Then Roman raised the water pistol again and splashed some water at Virgil.

“But that doesn’t mean that I won’t do it anyway! Haha!”

Virgil hissed at the prince.

Meanwhile, Logan was still chasing after Patton, but suddenly the moral side stumbled and fell down. Logan froze for a moment, before running to Patton and kneeling down beside him.

“Are you alright?” he asked slightly concerned.

Patton sat up, dusting his clothes.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” he smiled at Logan.

“You have to be more careful,” the logical side said, helping the other one up to his feet.

“Aww, it’s cute, that you are worried about me. Sorry I splashed water on you.”

Logan looked away sheepishly.

“That is already forgotten,” he said, blushing slightly as Patton hugged him tightly.

From a bit of a distance the other two sides watched as the two lovebirds were cuddling.

“I think I have to throw up,” Virgil said, sticking his tongue out at this ridiculous cute sight.

“I know what you mean,” Roman added.

“I mean, I’m the romantic side, but this is just too much fluff, even for me.”

Virgil scoffed.

“Come on, Prince Hopeless Romantic. You would be even worse.”

Roman made an offended noise, clutching at his chest.

“I wouldn’t be that sappy.”

“Yeah, right. Whatever you say, Sir Overdramatic,” Virgil laid back again, closing his eyes to continue to chill.

There was another splash of water, followed by another hiss.

\-------------------------

When the sun began to sink down, they all sat down on a blanket. They watched as the sky was changing colors from orange to pink to purple and blue. It was beautiful.

Patton cuddled nearer to Logan, who laid an arm around his boyfriend. Virgil was sitting between Roman and the cuddling pair, trying not to touch either one of them. Roman was lying with his arms crossed behind his head, looking up into the colorful sky.

“This was a perfect day,” Patton said softly.

“Indeed,” Logan agreed.

“It was nice, I think,” Virgil shrugged.

“Oh, come on, gloomy goober. It was more than just nice. It was a funny and relaxing day,” Roman said in a calmer tone than usual.

Virgil looked down at him and saw a small smile on the prince’s face while he was watching the sunset. He looked happy. Virgil smirked and laid down beside the fanciful side, continuing to watch the sunset as well. In the process their legs touched and Virgil paused. His heart started to beat faster than normal, and he thought about moving his leg away from the other one’s. But he didn’t. From the corner of his eye he glanced at Roman, but either he didn’t notice or he was good at hiding it.

So the minutes passed until the sun had disappeared and the sky was completely covered in stars.

At some point Patton started to doze off on Logan’s shoulder.

“You should go to bed, Patton,” Logan stated.

“Not tired,” Patton mumbled sleepily.

“Apparently you are. You were just about to fall asleep on my shoulder,” Logan declared.

Patton just snuggled closer into the logical side.

“Okay, I’ll put you to bed,” Logan said, as he helped Patton get up.

“Good night,” he said to the other two sides.

“Night, kiddos,” Patton managed to say tiredly.

“Night,” the others responded.

When Logan and Patton had entered the house, the two remaining sides lay silently on the blanket.

Now Virgil was lying there with the prince. Alone.

His heart was beating fast and his nervousness increased every passing minute. His whole body was on the alert, and he had to fight the urge to just run away.

He was so near the prince that he could smell his perfume. Oh how he loved this scent. He wished he could smell it every time he wanted to. And he wished the creative side would feel the same way about him. His heart ached a bit at that thought. He knew that would never happen.

Suddenly a shooting star flew across the sky.

“Did you see that?” Roman asked quietly but excited.

Virgil hummed in approval.

“Make a wish,” the prince said, smiling.

Virgil just scoffed.

Roman’s smile faltered and he turned his head to look at Virgil.

“What? You don’t believe in shooting stars making wishes come true?” he asked, rising an eyebrow.

_‘I just don’t think that my wish would ever come true._ ’ Virgil thought.

“What?” Roman asked confused.

Virgil’s eyes widened as he realized that he actually had whispered that out loud, but more to himself.

“Nothing,” he just said, as he sat up.

“I’m tired. I’ll go to bed. Good night,” he said quickly, getting up and heading towards the house.

Roman get up and followed him.

“Wait! You shouldn’t walk. Let me help-“

“No. It’s okay. I can do it on my own,” Virgil interrupted the prince without turning around. Instead, he tried to get away from the creative side even faster. 

Roman just stood there, looking confused at Virgil, as he entered the house. He didn’t know what had happened. Did he say something wrong? He shook his head. Sometimes he just didn’t understand the anxious side.

He picked up the blanket, folded it and put it on one of the loungers. Then he headed to his room as well.

\------------------------

As soon as he had entered his room, Virgil took a deep breath to calm himself down. That was close. He had to be more careful. If Roman would ever find out how he was feeling around him, he would probably laugh at him. Their not-yet-that-long existing friendship would be destroyed, and they would be where they had started. And Virgil didn’t want to risk that.

The dark trait fell backwards on his bed and looked at the ceiling. He felt a slight pain in his right leg. He assumed that he had overdone it and had put too much weight on it.

But he didn’t really care. His heart ached more than his leg. It felt like there was a vise around his chest, tightening more and more. He would rather fall down the stairs over and over again, than feel like this. It would hurt less.

He felt tears welling in the corner of his eyes and a quiet sob escaped his throat. He whipped away the tears angrily. No, he wouldn’t cry. There was absolutely no reason to. Nothing bad had happened. _And nothing else will ever happen._

Virgil turned around and buried his face in his pillow. He wondered if he would feel this way for the rest of his miserable life.

\-------------------------

Virgil noticed that the hardest part of waking up in the morning was to remember what you had been trying to forget last night. The memories and therefore the feelings hit him hard.

He took a deep breath and slowly sat up in his bed. He looked down at his hands, they were slightly shaking. Today wouldn’t be a good day, he could feel that. He closed his eyes and took another deep breath at least to stop his hands from shaking. He had to pull himself together.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts.

“Hey, kiddo. Are you awake? Do you want to come down for breakfast?” Patton’s voice was heard from behind the door.

Virgil pulled back the blankets and stood up. He hissed and immediately sat down again. He had definitely overdone it yesterday by going to his room by himself.

“Virge?” Patton asked, opening the door to tuck his head in.

“I’ll be ready in a minute, Pat,” he responded.

Patton looked a bit concerned.

“Are you okay? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m okay. It just seems that I overburdened myself yesterday, that’s all,” Virgil tried to play it down. He didn’t want the other to worry about him.

“Are you sure?” the moral side came closer to look at the youngest.

“Yeah, it’s not that bad. I’ll take the painkillers and it’ll be okay,” Virgil explained.

“I didn’t mean just physically.”

Of course Patton could see right through him.

“I’m fine,” he lied.

“Hm, if you say so, kiddo,” Patton didn’t seem convinced, but he didn’t want to push him. He could tell that something was off. He assumed that it had something to do with what ever had happened yesterday evening when Logan and he had left because Virgil had seemed fine until then.

Patton helped the anxious side to get ready and soon they entered the kitchen, Virgil leaning onto Patton. The other two sides were already sitting at the table.

“Here, sit down, kiddo. What do you want to eat?” Patton asked softly.

“Some cereal will do,” Virgil answered. He cringed when he moved his leg to a more comfortable position.

Logan looked at the youngest with furrowed brows.

“Are you alright? You seem to be in slight pain.”

Roman turned his head to look concerned at the anxious side.

“The kiddo’s leg hurts more than usual today,” Patton explained, trying to hide his worry, but you could hear it by his tone.

“I just stressed it a bit too much yesterday,” Virgil mumbled.

“Then I suggest that you rest today. No load for your leg. Do you understand?” Logan demanded.

“Sure,” the other just replied with a shrug.

Patton put a bowl with cereal and milk in front of Virgil, along with the medicine and a glass of water.

Virgil took the pills first and drank some water, before he started to eat his breakfast.

Roman was still looking at the dark trait. Virgil was about to take another spoon full of the cereal, but paused halfway through when he noticed.

“What?” he asked slightly annoyed.

Roman quickly looked away, shaking his head.

“Nothing.”

Virgil frowned, but continued to eat. He didn’t like that compassionate look in the prince’s eyes.

When they had finished breakfast, Virgil was about to stand up.

“I’m going back to my room,” he said.

Roman stood up, as well, holding a hand out to support the other.

“Let me help you-“

“Stop mothering me!” Virgil said angrier than he had meant to. His eyes widened slightly when he realized what he just had said.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Virgil apologized, massaging the bridge of his nose.

Roman crossed his arms, rising an eyebrow.

“It’s okay. I let you get away with it this time. But remember, I just want to help. It’s not my fault that your leg hurts,” Roman stated with a slightly offended undertone.

_‘That’s not the problem, you dork,’_ Virgil thought.

“I know,” he mumbled instead.

“Okay, Logan could you please help Virgil get to his room?” Patton asked the logical side.

“Sure,” Logan answered and surrounded the table to help Virgil.

As the two had left the kitchen, Patton sat at the table, staring at Roman.

“So Roman, why don’t you tell me what had happened yesterday evening?”

\-------------------------

When Logan and Virgil entered the darker traits room, the logical side put the youngest on the bed.

“I recommend you prop up your leg,” Logan said, as he put a pillow under Virgil’s leg.

“That will suffice. Do you need anything else?”

“No thank you, Logan.”

“Do you want to talk about your behavior from just now?” Logan asked.

Virgil looked up at the other, raising an eyebrow.

“Not really,” he responded.

“Good, because I’m really not good with emotions. I suggest you should talk about it with Patton, if you feel the need to do so.”

Virgil snorted amused.

“Alright, teach.”

Logan stood up and went to the door.

“I hope you feel better soon,” he said, turning around to the anxious side.

“Thanks,” Virgil answered, before Logan closed the door behind him.

\--------------------------

Roman groaned annoyed.

“I told you, Pat. Nothing bad happened yesterday evening.”

“Then why is he in a bad mood? And why does his leg hurt more than usual?” Patton asked.

“Look, we just laid there and viewed the stars. Then he jumped up and said he was tired and went to his room. And that’s probably why his leg is hurting now.” Roman blurted.

“Hm, did you say something wrong that made him uncomfortable?” Patton wondered out loud about what the creative side had told him.

“No, I didn’t! I was also confused by his sudden fleeing,” Roman admitted.

“So you don’t have an idea what’s wrong with him either?” Patton asked again, just to be sure.

“No. Maybe you should ask him instead of me,” Roman said, throwing a hand in the air.

“Yeah, I should probably do that,” Patton replied determined.

“Sorry that I questioned you like that, Roman,” the moral side apologized, as he stood up to go to Virgil’s room.

\-------------------------

Virgil was sitting in his bed, playing with his handheld console when he heard a knock on his door.

“Who is it?” he asked, not looking up from the screen in front of him.

“Patton.”

“Come in.”

The moral side entered and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Hey, kiddo. What are you doing?”

Virgil raised an eyebrow, looking confused.

“Seriously?” he gestured at the console in his hand.

Patton chuckled.

“Yeah, I think it’s obvious. You’re right.”

“Patton, what do you want?” Virgil asked with a smirk.

“You’ve got me there,” Patton admitted smiling.

“Well, it seems that you’re not having a good day. Is there a reason for it?”

Virgil’s body tensed up. He looked at Patton, but immediately looked away again.

“No…,” Virgil replied.

“Virge?” Patton asked again, knowing that there was something more about it.

“No, really. It’s nothing. I’m just annoyed because my leg hurts, that’s all.”

Patton sighed.

“Okay, if you say so. I don’t want to press. But if you want to talk about anything you can always come to me,” he said, patting Virgil’s healthy leg.

“Thank you, Pat,” the dark trait thanked with a small smile.

“Well, I’ll leave you alone again,” the cheerful side said, as he headed for the door and opened it.

“Bye, kiddo.”

“Bye, Patton,” Virgil responded, still smiling slightly.

As soon as the door closed, his fake smile vanished. He hated lying to Patton. But he couldn’t tell him the truth. He couldn’t tell him that he had a hopeless crush on the fanciful side. Because if he admitted it he couldn't pretend anymore that everything was fine, and he had to deal with it. And he couldn’t do that.

But if the others had already noticed that something was off, he had to try harder to suppress his feelings and act normal. He didn’t want them to become suspicious of him.

He had to pull himself together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy about every kudo and/or comment! It motivates me a lot!


	8. Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 8! It's mainly fluff. The title is chosen from the song Smile by Avril Lavigne. I hope you enjoy it!

It was hard, but he managed to keep up his façade. Mostly because he avoided the prince the best he could. It wasn’t that difficult, as Roman was often in his room that week, doing who knew what.

Now Virgil was sitting in the kitchen, drinking a cup of cocoa and enjoying the silence.

Patton entered the kitchen and greeted him with an exited “Hey, kiddo!”

And there went his peace.

“Hey, Pat.”

Patton rummaged around in the cupboard and got a mixer and some bowls out.

“What are you up to?” Virgil asked, watching what the moral side was doing.

Patton turned around and beamed.

“I’m making a cake!” he said exited.

Virgil looked at him confused.

“Why?”

Now it was Patton who looked confused.

“Because tomorrow is your birthday, silly!” he chuckled.

Virgil tensed. He had totally forgotten about that.

“Um, you don’t need to make a cake for me. Don’t make a big deal about it,” Virgil said, shrinking into himself.

“Yeah, I can’t promise that,” Patton replied, smirking.

Virgil groaned.

“Pat, pleeease!” Virgil whined.

“Okay, okay. But you’ll definitely get a cake! And because of that I need you to leave the kitchen,” Patton said, grabbing the youngest by his arm and pulling him to the couch in the living room.

“Logan, please keep an eye on him while I’m baking,” he said to the logical side in the armchair, before returning to the kitchen.

Logan looked up from his book, looking at Virgil.

“Sup?” Virgil nodded at him.

“Not much, I’m just reading my book” Logan replied, turning his attention back to his novel.

“Cool,” Virgil answered, not really listening. He got out his phone and began to scroll though Tumblr.

\-------------------------

Roman took a step back to look at his work. He couldn’t help but smile and feel a bit proud of himself. It took him a bit longer than he had thought, but it was worth it.

His smile faltered a bit and he knitted his brows. He was so enthusiastic when he had started that he had just continued without having a plan what he was up to. And now he was just not sure what he had actually created. He tilted his head and viewed the object in front of him. He sighed, shrugging. He just hoped that the emo nightmare would like it.

He rummaged in his room to get some fancy paper to gift-wrap the item. Then he hid the present in his wardrobe. Nobody would look there.

Next he went into his bathroom to get some band-aids. In the process of creating the gift he had managed to cut and stitch his fingers several times. Well, being the creative side didn’t mean that he was good at handicraft activities. He was pretty clumsy when it came to handmade stuff. But he didn’t care about the slight injuries, as long as he could make Virgil happy.

\-------------------------

It was evening and everybody had already gone to bed. Patton and Logan were in the moral side’s room. Since they were together they shared a room, either Logan’s or Patton’s. But since Patton’s bed was a bit larger they often slept in his room.

The two were lying on the bed, Patton cuddled close to Logan’s chest, who laid an arm around the other. Logan had his eyes closed, but wasn’t sleeping yet. Patton was also awake, woolgathering.

“I’m so happy that we’ve all grown to be a family,” Patton said softly.

“Indeed,” Logan replied, eyes still closed.

“Roman and Virgil are also get along better. Although, they do behave strangely sometimes,” Patton said, knitting his brows.

Logan opened his eyes and looked down at his boyfriend.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“Well, I suspect that maybe they like each other more than they want to admit. But they’re too afraid or too stubborn to tell the other.”

“I didn’t realize that. But if you say so. Feelings are your department. I think we should trust in your instinct,” Logan replied.

Patton smiled and snuggled closer to Logan.

“That’s what amazes me about you. Although you’re acting so happy and carefree all the time and make those silly jokes, you care deeply for others and you’re considerate of their feelings. You sense things, which others would never notice. And that makes many things easier for all of us,” Logan stated.

Patton sat up a bit to look the logical side in the eyes with an astounded expression on his face.

“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” he said, still stunned.

Logan blushed slightly as he processed what he had just said.

“Well, then I’m sorry that I haven’t said it earlier.”

He felt arms wrap around him and a kiss placed on his cheek.

“You make me so happy,” Patton said as he laid down again and continued to cuddle the logical side.

Logan smiled softly.

“You make me happy as well.”

\-------------------------

The next morning Virgil woke up to a knock at his door, but before he could reply the door was pushed open and a certain prince entered his room.

“Good morning, emo nightmare! Rise and shine!” he said, way too excited for Virgil’s liking. He hated to be awakened before he was well rested, which happened too rarely anyway.

Roman went to the window and slid the curtains to the side, causing the sun to shine directly into Virgil’s face.

“My eyes!” Virgil groaned and pulled the blanket over his head.

“Come on, it’s just the sun! You won’t crumble into dust, even if you do sometimes look like a vampire,” Roman teased.

Virgil pulled back the blanket from his head again.

“I was talking about your face!”

Roman blinked.

“Wow. Anyway, get ready. Patton and Logan are waiting in the living room.”

Virgil sighed before pulling back the blanket entirely. He got out of bed just wearing a black t-shirt and gray shorts, which hung loosely around his hip. Roman blushed slightly at the sight and turned around, pretending to look through Virgil’s CD collection on the shelf.

Virgil went to his bathroom to brush his teeth and fix his eyeshadow. Then he returned to his room to put on some wide sweatpants that his cast would fit in. He turned around to Roman.

“I’m ready.”

Roman turned around to look at the darker trait just to freeze in his action. The youngest looked even smaller than usual in these wide sweatpants. The creative side couldn’t think about anything else, but how cute Virgil looked right now.

Virgil knitted his brows.

“What?”

The question tore Roman from his thoughts, and he cleared his throat.

“Nothing. Let’s get you down to the living room,” he just said and gestured Virgil to follow him into the hallway.

As they reached the stairs Roman paused, turning to the anxious trait.

“Does your leg feel better today?” he asked slightly concerned.

Virgil slightly looked up at him.

“Yeah, it’s alright again,” he answered.

“Well, I won’t risk it getting worse again,” he said and held out his hand to Virgil, who hesitated before taking it. Roman put an arm around the other’s waist, and they slowly began to go down the stairs.

‘ _This is so fucking awkward_ ,’ Virgil thought, blushing slightly.

At the moment they reached the bottom of the stairs, Logan and Patton started to sing Happy Birthday, followed by the prince joining in singing as well. When they had finished the song, Virgil looked around the room. Everywhere there were balloons, and a banner hung across the room, on which was written in colorful letters ‘Happy Birthday, Virgil!’

Roman went over to the couch and put the youngest on it. On the table in front of the couch stood a big purple cake decorated with colorful sprinkles and some candles.

Virgil was overwhelmed. He needed a moment to absorb all that, before he looked at the other sides.

“Y-you didn’t have to do that for me,” he stuttered. He almost felt tears welling up in the corners of his eyes, but he managed to push them back.

“But we wanted to do it! You’re family!” Patton exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air excitedly.

“Exactly,” Logan added, smiling slightly.

Roman nodded in agreement with a big smile on his face.

Virgil smiled back at them all sheepishly.

“Thank you.”

Patton rushed to his side and sat on the couch next to him.

“You have to blow out the candles!” he said excited. Logan and Roman joined them on the couch.

Virgil chuckled, before he blew out the candles on the cake all at once.

Patton clapped his hands and hugged Virgil quickly, who was a bit surprised by the sudden hug, but didn’t mind.

Then the moral side jumped up again and rushed to the closet, getting a bag and returned to the others.

“Here, your presents!” he said with a big smile, putting an angular shaped present and a shapeless present on the table.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” Roman stood up.

“Don’t open them before I return!” he said, before going upstairs to his room.

After a while he returned and placed a roundish present next to the other two.

“Okay, now you can start,” Roman said, sitting on the couch again.

Virgil nodded and grabbed the angular present first. He unwrapped it and hold a Nightmare before Christmas themed puzzle in his hands.

“Puzzles help me to relax. I thought it might help you as well,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses.

“Thanks, Logan! I really like it,” Virgil thanked the logical side.

“You are welcome.”

Next Virgil chose the shapeless present. He already could feel the softness when he grabbed it. After he had unwrapped it he unfolded the soft black cloth and held it in front of him. It turned out to be a toothless onesie.

Virgil gasped.

“Wow, I love it! Thank you, Patton!”

“I’m glad you like it, kiddo. Now we can have onesie parties,” the moral side chuckled.

Virgil turned his attention to the remaining roundish present. He grabbed it and was surprised that it was also somehow soft. He looked at the prince out of the corner of his eyes, before he started to unwrap the present.

Suddenly, Roman became very nervous whether Virgil would like his present, and he began to fumble with his hands.

When the anxious side had unwrapped the present he held it in front of him and tilted his head. It was obviously a plushy, but he didn’t know exactly what it was supposed to be. It was round and had some kind of black fur that stood in all directions. The fur was interrupted by purple checkered patches here and there, similar to his hoodie. It had two big eyes and two antennae on his head. Well, it didn’t really have a head, because it was round and didn’t have any arms or legs. But Virgil had to admit that it looked cute with its big eyes staring at him.

“Um, thank you Princey. But what exactly is it?” Virgil tilted his head again, before looking at Roman.

Roman looked at his feet ashamed.

“To be honest, I have no idea,” he admitted.

There was silence for a moment before Virgil burst out laughing. Roman looked up at him, confused and worried that the other laughed at him.

When Virgil caught his breath, he whipped away some tears from the corners of his eyes.

“That is so damn funny! You’re the fanciful side, heck you are creativity! And you have no idea what you created!” he said through giggles, almost laughing again.

The corners of Roman’s mouth twitched. Yeah, it was funny somehow. It didn’t take long until Virgil’s giggles caused him to laugh as well, which in turn caused Virgil to laugh out loud again.

As they both had calmed down again, Roman asked, “So you like it?”

Virgil smirked.

“Yeah, Princey, I like it. Actually, it’s quite cute.”

“Show it to me, Virge!” Patton begged.

Virgil gave the plushy to Patton.

“Awww, it really is cute! You did that by yourself, Roman? I’m impressed!”

Roman smiled.

“Yeah, I worked on it the whole week.”

Virgil turned his head to look at the prince.

“So that’s what you were doing in your room all this time?” he asked surprised.

“Yeah,” Roman nodded, blushing slightly.

Virgil was stunned. The creative side had put so much effort into his birthday present?

He didn’t really think about his next action, it was like his body moved by itself.

Roman froze when he felt arms wrapped around him. He looked down a bit to see the anxious side hugging him.

The moment Virgil realized what he was doing, he let go of the prince and cleared his throat, face bright red.

“Thank you, Princey. I really like it.”

Roman blankly looked at the youngest. His brain hadn’t processed yet what had just happened. Then a beaming smile appeared on his face.

“I’m glad you like it, stormy night.”

Virgil held the plushy in front of him again and looked at it, smiling once again.

That was the moment Roman realized something. He had made the little emo nightmare smile. He had managed to make him laugh out loud, to make him happy. And that was all he had wished for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy about every comment and kudo! And thank you for all your kind and motivational words!


	9. You'll never be alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeyyy! Here is Chapter 9! Sorry that it took so long, but I was a bit busy. The title is chosen from the song Dusk Till Dawn covered by Madilyn Bailey. I hope you enjoy it!

“Could you please stop worrying about the worst outcome of every idea I offer?”

“But it’s too dangerous!”

“Oh come on! Other YouTubers do it too!”

“That doesn’t mean that he should do it as well. Besides, it’s not original, Princey.”

The fanciful side crossed his arms.

“We already had that discussion.”

Roman frowned. They had been arguing for half an hour now about the idea he had: that Thomas could do a video where he’s filming himself while driving, singing to music on the radio, and making funny comments.

But Virgil thought it would be too dangerous, and that Thomas could end up in a car accident.

Patton and Logan had long given up on calming them, and let them argue alone.

Eventually Roman had had enough of it.

“You know what? I’m tired of bickering with you. I’m going now,” Roman said, going upstairs and leaving to his room.

Virgil looked after him angrily.

“Come back here! I’m not done yet!” he shouted.

“But I am!” Roman shouted back from upstairs, slamming his door shut loudly.

Virgil huffed from where he sat on the couch.

Actually, today should have been a good day, because the anxious trait would finally get rid of the cast on his leg. He had been longing for this day. But now he was a bit nervous, and Roman‘s reckless ideas didn’t help.

He put on his headphones and started to listen to his music to calm down a bit.

After a while Logan came downstairs and stood in front of him. Virgil lifted the headphone from one ear.

“Yes?”

“It’s time to drive to the hospital to let the doctor remove the cast from your leg,” Logan said as he offered the youngest a hand. Virgil could feel his chest tightening. He took the logical side’s hand, and they made their way to the front door.

“We are leaving to the hospital. We will be back soon,” Logan called over his shoulder.

“Drive carefully!” Patton responded, sticking his head out of the kitchen door.

“Of course,” Logan answered.

“Bye, kiddo!”

“Bye, Patton,” Virgil responded as they closed the door and went to the car. Logan put Virgil in the passenger seat, and shortly afterwards they drove off the driveway.

\-------------------------

Patton was in the kitchen, cleaning, as Roman entered.

“Hey, padre!” he greeted, waving his hand.

“Where are the others?” he asked.

Patton turned towards the fanciful side.

“Logan and Virgil drove to the hospital. The kiddo’s cast is getting removed today,” he answered.

Roman raised an eyebrow. The appointment was today? He looked out of the kitchen window and indeed the car was gone.

The prince cursed internally that he had missed that date. He wanted to be with the emo nightmare when he got rid of the cast. He knew that Virgil didn’t like hospitals, and he had been determined to accompany him and to calm him down.

Well, now it was too late, and he just hoped that the dark trait was okay.

He turned his head towards the moral side.

“When did they leave?”

Patton looked at his watch.

“About an hour ago. They should return soon,” he answered.

“Oh, okay.”

Patton smiled and held up a rag for cleaning in front of Roman.

“Do you want to help until they come back?”

Roman groaned, taking the rag.

Ten minutes later Patton had cleaned the whole fridge. He turned around to see Roman still standing in front of the kitchen counter, looking absentmindedly out of the window, and cleaning the same spot on the surface as minutes ago.

Patton chuckled.

“I think the counter is clean now, Roman,” he said, putting a hand on the fanciful side’s shoulder.

Roman was torn out of his thoughts when he felt Patton’s hand on his shoulder.

“Um, what? Oh yeah, sure,” the prince responded.

The moral side smiled softly.

“What’s on your mind, buddy?”

Roman looked at Patton, confused.

“What do you mean? I’m fine.”

“Come on, kiddo. I can see that you are worrying about Virgil.”

Roman raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“What?! No! Why should I? Logan is with him, so there is no need to worry. I’m sure he is okay. Although I know the emo nightmare doesn’t like hospitals, and I’m very sure he is nervous, Logan would calm him down, right? He’s the logical side, the smart one. He can manage that. Virgil is okay for sure.”

Patton blinked at Roman.

_‘Right. You’re absolutely not worried,’_ the moral side thought ironically.

Then he smiled, patting the prince’s shoulder.

“Sure! Of course, he is okay.”

\-------------------------

At the hospital things weren’t that easy as well. Virgil was very nervous and Logan tried to ease him.

“W-what if they cut into my leg with the electrical circular saw?” Virgil stuttered. He was shaking visibly.

“If this happens, then there is nothing to worry about because we are already at the hospital,” Logan answered plainly, reading a medicine magazine in the waiting room.

“That’s not helpful, Logan,” Virgil said, bouncing his healthy leg up and down nervously.

“Everything will be fine. The doctors probably do that every day. It’s routine,” the logical side reasoned.

“But what if today is the first day they slip off and cut into a leg, into MY leg?”

Logan sighed, rubbing his temples.

“Virgil...”

But before he could say something they were called by the receptionist.

Virgil’s chest tightened more, and he gave Logan an anxious look.

Logan put his hand on Virgil’s arm to calm him down.

“Breath,” he said, taking a deep breath for demonstration.

The dark trait imitated the action and managed to take a deep but shaky breath.

“Okay, let’s get it over with,” he said and stood up.

\-------------------------

The doctor was very nice and empathetic, recognizing the nervousness of his patient. But when the little circular saw was turned on, and Virgil heard the horrible sound of the saw blade rotating he almost thought he would have an anxiety attack. To his surprise the procedure was over quickly.

As they returned to the car he was still shaking slightly, but he was glad that it was over. Now he wanted nothing more than to drive back home.

\-------------------------

Patton made dinner and Roman helped him, glancing out of the kitchen window now and then.

Just when he was done cutting tomatoes he saw movement in the driveway out of the corner of his eyes. He looked up and out of the window just to see their car parking.

“They’re back!” he said, smiling at Patton, who smiled back at him.

A few moments later the front door was opened, and Logan and Virgil walked inside. Virgil was still limping slightly because it felt odd to move without the cast, and his leg was still too weak to walk properly.

Patton and Roman already stood in the hallway to welcome them.

“I’m glad you’re back! I hope everything went fine,” Patton said excited.

Logan adjusted his glasses.

“Well, everything went as I had foreseen,” he said, glancing over to Virgil, who was shrinking into himself.

Roman stood in front of the youngest, smiling.

“Good to see you without that cast on your leg, Hot Topic!”

Virgil smirked.

“Now you can’t just run away from me when you don’t want to hear what I have to say.”

Roman’s smile faltered.

“Oh shoot.”

\-------------------------

Over the next few days Virgil had to do exercises to strengthen his leg, and needed to take short walks around the block.

But today it was just too hot. The sides were in the garden, wearing their bathing duds and cooling themselves down in the pool.

Logan was sitting at the edge of the pool, hanging his legs in the water. Patton was dabbling in the water, causing Logan to scowl every time the moral side accidentally splashed water on him.

Roman was lying on an air mattress, wearing sunglasses and bathing in the sun. Virgil hung with his upper body over an inner tube, swimming slowly through the water by moving his legs. Somehow that also seemed to him like an exercise for his legs.

Eventually, Patton accidentally splashed water on Roman, who was frightened by the sudden cold and fell down from his air mattress and into the water. He gasped when he resurfaced.

“Patton!” the fanciful side shouted angrily.

Patton tried to hide his laugh behind his hands.

“Sorry, Roman.”

But Virgil couldn’t control himself and laughed out loud by the sight of the prince. Roman’s normally well styled hair clung at his forehead, he even lost his sunglasses somewhere in the pool. Although the prince’s face had an angry expression, Virgil couldn’t take him seriously.

Roman was slowly turning to the youngest.

“Oh, you really want to laugh at me?” he growled deeply.

Virgil immediately became silent, staring at the prince with wide eyes.

Roman smirked and started to move closer to Virgil. The dark trait instantly knew that the other was up to no good and scrambled out of the inner tube in panic, trying to reach the pool edge. But Roman was faster, and at the moment he reached the anxious trait he grabbed his shoulders and pushed him under water. He let go of Virgil right away and the youngest resurfaced, coughing. His makeup was ruined.

When he caught his breath, he was scowling at the prince.

“You’re a perfect idiot you know that?”

Roman shrugged, smirking.

“Well, at least I’m perfect.”

Virgil rolled his eyes so hard he swore he could see his own brain.

\-------------------------

It was late evening. Princey was sitting at his desk, brainstorming about some other ideas for Thomas’ YouTube videos. There was a knock at his door. He raised his head. Who could that be so late? He stood up and went to his door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see the anxious side.

“Yes?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The younger one fumbled awkwardly with the sleeves of his hoodie. He didn't look the prince in the eye.

“Um...can I chill in your room for a bit? Logan and Patton are next door in Logan's room, and they're quite...you know...loud,” he said, embarrassment written on his face.

When Roman had processed what he just had heard his eyes went wide, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Oh...OH!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah sure, of course you can come in,” he added and beckoned the dark trait in.

Virgil nodded and entered.

The room was bigger than his own room, and was dominated by a large canopy bed with white blankets and red curtains. There was a dark wooden dresser decorated with golden ornaments, on which some picture frames were standing. On the opposite wall from the door of Roman’s room there was another door. That had to be the shortcut to his kingdom. In the back corner of the room there was a bench for strength training. Of course. Virgil wasn’t surprised.

Roman had returned to his desk, continuing to work.

“What are you doing?” Virgil asked not really interested, but he wanted to avoid an awkward silence between them.

“I'm thinking about some ideas for Thomas’ videos,” Roman answered.

“What about that other idea where he films himself in the car while driving?” Virgil asked, crossing his arms.

Roman turned around, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

“Well,” he started.

“I've scrapped that idea.”

Virgil looked surprised.

“Why the change of mind?”

“Well, I reconsidered it after Logan and Patton both also told me that it was too dangerous, and that Thomas could get hurt. I recognized that it wasn't my best idea,” he explained.

“That's exactly what I told you,” the anxious side said annoyed.

Roman rolled his eyes.

“Yeah. I admit it. You were right. Are you happy now?”

Virgil smirked triumphantly and nodded satisfied.

He went to the bed and sat on the floor in front of it, leaning his back against the wood.

Then he got out his phone and put his headphones on.

Roman turned around and continued to work, grinning slightly.

\------------------------

After an hour or so Roman was too tired to brainstorm any more. He put his notes aside and turned off the light on his desk.

When he stood up and turned around he paused in his action by the cute sight that greeted him.

The youngest was lying curled up on one side of his bed, sleeping.

Roman smiled softly and stepped closer to the bed.

What should he do? He didn't have the heart to wake the emo nightmare.

So he put the blanket over the sleeping trait and went to his bathroom to get ready for bed.

When he returned to his room the youngest had curled up even more in the blankets and looked very pleased.

Roman sighed both at the cute sight and in frustration.

How much he wanted to hold him in his arms and protect him from every harm that might get to him.

But maybe he would never be allowed to do so.

He shook his head, pushing the thought aside, and laid down next to his secret desire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm happy about every comment and kudo!


	10. I'm breathing in and breaking down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Here is chapter 10! The title is chosen from the song Bring Me Back to Life by Ht Bristol, Charlie Bannister, Vincent Steele, Nine One One. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> WARNINGS: being trapped in a small room, panic attack mentioned, but nothing too bad I think.

Virgil woke up in the middle of the night. He immediately knew that he wasn’t in his room. The pillow and the blanket smelled like the scent he loved so much.

When he opened his eyes he froze, seeing the prince sound asleep next to him. Their faces were very close and Virgil could see a small smile on the fanciful side’s lips. Virgil’s face turned bright red, but he didn’t dare to move, afraid to wake up the prince. But he knew that he couldn’t stay until morning. That would be way too awkward.

So he slowly and carefully sat up, like in slow motion. After he had pulled back the blanket and his feet had reached the ground he snuck out of the room as quietly as possible.

When he returned to his room and laid on his bed he just hoped that the creative side wouldn’t mention it in the morning.

\-------------------------

Roman would have been lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed when he had found the other side of his bed cold and empty that morning.

But he hid his emotions when he joined the others for breakfast. Virgil acted like nothing had happened. He didn’t even look at the prince one single time. So Roman decided to forget about it.

“So what are we going to do today, kiddos?” Patton asked, washing their dishes from breakfast.

The other sides paused from cleaning the table and looked at each other.

“I don't know, padre. Do you have anything in mind?” Roman asked.

Patton turned to the others, grinning.

“I'm glad you ask. Yes, I have an idea. There is a new mall that opened a few days earlier. Maybe we could take a look at it?”

Roman's eyes lit up.

“That's a great idea!”

Logan tilted his head and seemed to think about it.

“That sounds like a good idea. We just finished the last jar of crofters. Maybe there is a supermarket where we can buy a new one. Or rather a few more.”

Virgil was about to quietly sneak out of the room, but Patton interrupted him.

“You're coming too, kiddo.”

Virgil groaned, annoyed, and rolled his eyes.

\-------------------------

A while later the four sides entered the mall. It was very large with four floors and seemed very advanced, although there were still some mechanics present, adjusting the last settings here and there which didn't work correctly yet.

Patton immediately ran to a railing from where he could see up and down all the floors. His head turned fast in different directions before he gasped and squealed, pointing at a store which was one floor above the floor they were currently standing.

“A Build-A-Bear Workshop!” he jumped up and down before running to an escalator which was moving upstairs.

At the same time Virgil saw a Hot Topic shop one floor downstairs. His face lit up, and he went to an escalator which was moving one floor down.

Logan and Roman looked after the leaving sides before they looked at each other. The logical side rolled his eyes while the prince just shrugged.

Then Logan followed his boyfriend and Roman ran after the youngest.

When the fanciful side reached the Hot Topic store, Virgil was already inside somewhere.

The anxious side was looking through some t-shirts and hoodies on a clothes rail when he looked up and saw a black cap with a purple peak.

He tried to grab it, but it was out of his reach. He even tried to stand on his toes, but he was just too short.

Suddenly someone grabbed the cap from the shelves.

“Good choice. It would suit you perfectly,” Roman said, examining the cap in his hand.

Virgil narrowed his eyes, looking at the prince.

“You followed me?”

Now Roman looked from the cap at Virgil.

“Well, Logan followed Patton, so this was the only option.”

Virgil still looked suspicious.

“No it wasn't. This store isn't even to your liking. You could have gone anywhere else.” Virgil pointed out.

Roman put a hand on his own hip.

“Yeah, like I would let you run around here alone. You would probably get lost.”

Virgil opened his mouth to defend himself, but Roman cut him off.

“Look, do you want the cap or not?” he asked, still holding the cap and dangling it in front of Virgil's face. The dark trait gave him an annoyed look and grabbed the cap from the other's hand.  
\-------------------------

In the Build-A-Bear Workshop Patton was running excitely through the store, examining every plushy. Logan was following him at a normal speed, observing his moves doubtfully.

Patton had chosen two similar looking bears. After they had been stuffed he was looking for clothes for them. When he was finally done, he presented the two teddy bears to his boyfriend.

“Ta-da!” he exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.

Logan looked at the two teddies in front of him. One had a light blue t-shirt with a gray cardigan bound around his neck, and was wearing glasses. The other one was wearing a black t-shirt with a dark blue necktie, also wearing glasses.

Logan looked up from the plushies at Patton and back at the teddies.

“This is us!” Patton said excited, smiling.

“I can see that, Patton.”

“Here, this one is for you,” he said and gave him the teddy, which impersonated the moral side.

“And this one is for me,” he added, hugging the plushy with the necktie.

Logan looked at the teddy bear in his hands. A soft smile appeared on his lips.

“Thank you, Patton. This is very nice.”

\-------------------------

Roman and Virgil had left the Hot Topic store and were now standing in front of an information board.

“Aha!” Princey shouted out when he found the Disney store on the map.

“We have to go two floors upstairs.”

He looked around and saw an elevator near them.

“Let’s go!” Roman said excited, dragging the dark trait with him.

When the door to the elevator was opening, Virgil felt the nervousness he always got when entering an elevator. He just didn't like them. They were small, and they just hung on some cables. His fantasies always went crazy, standing in one of those. And not in the good way.

\-------------------------

Patton and Logan had just left the Build-A-Bear Workshop and were about to go get some coffee. They passed some mechanics, who were working on some cables on the ceiling.

“Oh, there! This looks like a nice place,” Patton said, pointing at a small coffee shop.

They were just about to go in the café’s direction when they heard a loud bang and all the lights went out.

Patton squeaked slightly at the shock, grabbing Logan’s arm.

Logan comforted him by lying his hand on Patton’s arm. Then he looked around and saw the mechanics, who were cursing slightly, obviously upset. There was a broken cable hanging from the ceiling. They must have damaged it during their work. So the entire mall was without electricity. It wasn’t completely dark though, since the sunlight was still shining through the large windows of the mall.

“We should search for Roman and Virgil. Who knows how long it will take until they get the electricity back on?” Logan explained.

Patton just nodded in agreement.

\-------------------------

Meanwhile, the light in the elevator went off and the device stopped moving.

“What the,” Roman said in confusion.

“Oh no,” Virgil whispered, sounding terrified.

“Calm down, Freak Out Boy. It’s probably just a power outage. It should be back in a minute or two,” Roman said, feeling for the buttons next to the elevator’s door.

But it was pitch-black. Even when he could feel the buttons under his fingers and push them, they remained dark. Roman sighed.

Then he heard Virgil’s quickened breathing. He turned around, searching for the anxious side with his hands outstretched.

“Okay, Virgil. I need you to calm down. Nothing will happen to us. The lights will be on again in no time.”

He heard a thud.

_Shit._

“Okay, are you having an attack?! Is this a panic attack?!” he asked, now terrified as well.

Roman never saw Virgil having a panic attack before, nor did he know how to behave in a situation like this.

He knelt down, reaching out for the youngest. Then he touched something that felt like the other’s leg. Immediately two shaking hands tightly grabbed his arm like their life depended on it. Well, that answered his question.

“Okay, um…try to breath. Steady and slow,” he said, taking a deep breath and slowly breathing out again.

He could hear Virgil trying to breathe like the prince did, but his breathing was all but steady.

Okay, this wasn’t working.

Roman’s thoughts were running a mile a minute, searching for a better idea. He wished Logan or Patton were here with them. They would know what to do. The only thing he was good at was imagination. Wait. That was it! Imagination!

“Virgil, I need you to concentrate on my voice,” he said determined.

“Think about the living room, the table, the couch, the armchair and the TV,” he began.

In the darkness Roman couldn’t see that Virgil looked a bit confused.

“We are sitting there, painting and listening to music. Logan is sitting in the armchair, reading his boring books, and Patton has just entered the room and is serving drinks and some snacks,” he continued, telling his made-up scenario.

Virgil tried to concentrate on Roman’s talking, willing to do anything that might help him through this attack.

“And we’re all chattering about what we did today, Patton is making silly puns, and eventually we decide to watch a movie. We pick Black Cauldron, your favorite.”

Virgil relaxed a bit while listening to the fanciful side.

“During the movie we’re all cuddling on the couch under some blankets.”

A small smile appeared on Virgil’s face at the nice image in his mind. He tried to take deep and calm breaths, and somehow he managed that.

“At the end of the movie all four of us fall asleep on the couch, still cuddling, and every one of us has a good night’s rest,” Roman ended his little story.

Actually Virgil had calmed down again, and was able to breathe regularly, although he was still shaking slightly and on the alert.

Suddenly the lights turned on again, and the two sides could see each other again.

Roman scanned Virgil carefully. The youngest looked like a mess. His makeup was ruined by the tears he obviously had cried, his hair was in disarray, and he was still shaking. The dark trait looked at him, eyes wide like a deer caught in the headlights.

“Are you okay?” Roman asked softly.

Virgil just nodded, but it wasn’t really convincing.

Then the anxious side realized that he was still grabbing Roman’s arm tightly. He let go of the prince immediately.

“Sorry,” he muttered, looking away sheepishly.

“There is nothing to apologize for,” Roman answered.

He stood up and offered the youngest a hand. The other hesitated before he took it, standing up as well. Then the elevator started to move again. The sudden movement of the device scared Virgil, causing him to squeak slightly, and clutching onto Roman’s sash. Roman looked down at him a bit surprised, and Virgil looked up, their faces just inches apart. Virgil’s face turned bright red because of embarrassment, and he quickly let go of the prince, taking a step aside.

Then the door of the elevator opened, and they finally got out.

They stood in the hallway, relieved that they were free again. Then they heard a familiar cheerful voice, calling their names.

“Virgil! Roman!” Patton exclaimed from a distance. The addressed ones turned to the direction the voice came from, and saw Patton heading towards them. Logan followed him close behind.

“Are you two okay?” the moral side asked when he reached them, but when he saw Virgil his eyes widened.

“What happened, kiddo?!” he asked concerned.

Virgil shrunk into himself.

“Panic Attack. We were stuck in the elevator,” he just answered.

Patton gasped.

“Oh no! I’m so sorry. Are you alright now?”

Virgil nodded, rubbing the back of his head.

“Yeah. Roman helped me, somehow, in his own way.”

Roman’s face lit up by the appreciation.

Patton and Logan turned towards the fanciful side.

“You did?” Logan asked surprised.

Roman nodded a bit proud of himself that he had been able to help.

 “Well, I’m very proud of you, Roman,” the moral side said.

“Oh, and of course I’m proud of you, too, kiddo,” he added, putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

Virgil managed to smile slightly.

“Well, all in all I’m glad you two are alright,” Logan explained.

“I think that was enough agitation for today. Shall we go home?” the logical side asked.

The others nodded in agreement, and so they all went back home again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if the technique Roman uses would actually work, but I thought this would be his way trying to help with a panic attack.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you're all doing alright!  
> I'm happy about every comment and kudo! 
> 
> (By the way, I'm very excited about the two upcoming chapters, because things will get serious! *wiggling eyebrows*)


	11. Dangerous Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! Chapter 11! I hope I don't disappoint anyone by having promised too much at the end of the last chapter. But I had fun writing it.  
> The title of the chapter is chosen from the song Dangerous Night by Thirty Seconds To Mars. I hope you enjoy it! <3
> 
> Warnings: being accosted, alcohol, drunkenness; (possible spoiler, but I was asked to tag it in the warnings: kissing one who is drunk without asking for consent)

_‘Stupid prince,’_ Virgil thought. He was standing in front of his wardrobe, searching for some appropriate clothes for tonight.

Roman had suggested going out clubbing. All of them. That included him.

Virgil sighed, grabbing a black t-shirt and his hoodie. If he had to go to a disco with the others, then he wanted to feel at least comfortable.

When he had put on his clothes, he heard a knock at his door.

“Are you ready, kiddo?” Patton’s voice came from the other side.

Virgil opened the door and stepped out in the hallway.

“Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’.

“Oh good,” Patton smiled at him.

“Where is Roman?” Logan asked a bit annoyed.

“He said we should be ready at nine o’clock. He is five minutes late.”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, like he would be on time. He’s probably standing in front of his mirror, unable to break free from his reflection.”

At that moment Roman’s door was opened and the prince entered the hallway.

“Who’s ready to party?” he asked the others excitedly, waving his hand dramatically in the air.

Virgil looked him up and down, raising his eyebrows impressed. He looked hot.

Roman was wearing blue skinny jeans, a white tank top and a red leather jacket. His hair was well styled and…Virgil’s eyebrows sunk down in disbelief. This dork was actually wearing sunglasses.

The anxious trait sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose.

That action drew the fanciful side’s attention to him. Roman looked him up and down as well before he frowned.

“Really?” he asked.

Virgil looked up confused.

“What?”

“Even Logan and Patton put on button-down shirts and you’re wearing the same as usual?”

Virgil groaned annoyed.

“Just deal with it. I won’t change clothes.”

Roman just rolled his eyes dramatically.

“Do what you want,” he said, turning around and going to the stairs. Virgil stuck his tongue out at him before he and the other two followed the prince.

\-------------------------

Virgil and Roman were sitting at the bar. Patton had dragged Logan with him on the dancefloor. The moral side was dancing unbridled and having a lot of fun while his boyfriend was standing rather stiff and looked like he felt out of place. Logan was just tapping his foot to the rhythm of the music, arms crossed.

Roman looked at Virgil, and was about to ask him to dance with him as well, but the youngest just shot him a warning look. Roman sighed.

Virgil knew he probably wasn’t the best companion for the prince right now, but it wasn’t like the creative side was forced to sit here with him. He could just go dancing with the other two.

It was nothing new that Virgil didn’t like places like this. There were just too many unfamiliar people in here. Although he knew that probably wasn’t the case, he could feel the judging glances on him. He felt like he was exposed to all and sundry. In other words: he felt uncomfortable.

He stood up from his seat.

“I’m going to the restroom,” he said and left the prince alone.

Roman looked after the anxious side. He shrugged and watched Patton and Logan dancing.

\-------------------------

When Virgil exited the restroom, he was stopped by a stranger who obstructed his way.

The stranger was taller than Virgil by a head, and was now leaning down a bit to talk to him.

“Hey, good-looking. Your face must turn a few heads,” the stranger said, smirking roguishly.

Virgil frowned. He wasn’t in the mood. Well, he was never in the mood for flirting, but especially not now.

“And your face must turn a few stomachs,” he answered.

The stranger chuckled.

“Pretty _and_ sassy. That’s a dangerous combination, but I like it.”

Virgil felt very uncomfortable. He could feel his chest tightening because this stranger was way too close for his liking, and was invading his personal space.

“I think I could make you very happy,” the stranger said, not giving in so easily.

“You would make me happy by leaving me alone,” Virgil answered, about to make his way past this idiot.

But the stranger put his hand on the wall, cutting the dark trait off. Virgil scowled at the man.

\-------------------------

Roman was watching absentmindedly over the dancefloor. When he wondered why the emo nightmare took so long he turned his head in the direction of the restroom, searching for the anxious side.

When he saw him, he wasn’t alone. A man Roman didn’t know was standing in front of Virgil, talking to him.

But Virgil didn’t look pleased. Rather on edge.

Roman assumed that he was being accosted by the stranger. He went right into protective mode, standing up and making his way to the youngest.

“Is there a problem here?” Roman asked when he had arrived at the two, standing behind the stranger.

“No, everything is fine,” the stranger answered over his shoulder, not even looking at Roman.

“No, nothing is fine!” Virgil almost shouted angrily.

Okay, that was enough for Roman to take action.

“You better back off before I make you,” Roman said calmly, but determined, putting a hand on the stranger’s shoulder.

Now the stranger’s attention was drawn to Roman, and he looked at the hand on his shoulder, and then to the prince.

“Now!” Roman growled emphatically.

The stranger smirked, but raised his hands in defense, giving up.

“Okay, okay. I don’t want any trouble here,” he said and disappeared in the crowd.

“What a dumbass,” Roman mumbled, looking after the stranger.

When he couldn’t see the idiot anymore, Roman turned to Virgil.

“Thanks Roman,” Virgil sighed in relief.

“No problem. Are you alright?” the fanciful side asked.

Virgil hesitated before shaking his head.

“No, not really,” he said, making his way towards the bar.

Roman raised an eyebrow in confusion, following the anxious trait.

Virgil just wanted to calm down. He didn’t want to ruin the night by having a panic attack anytime soon. It was bad enough Roman had seen him the last time he had one. That didn’t have to happen again.

He sat at the bar, and the barkeeper came to him.

“Name your poison,” the man behind the bar said.

Virgil raised his hand and showed three fingers.

“Tequila.”

Roman sat down next to him, looking slightly concerned at the youngest.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” he asked, leaning his back against the bar, putting his elbows on the counter.

The barkeeper put three glasses of tequila on the counter.

“Nope,” Virgil said, throwing back his head and gulping the liquid down, completely ignoring the lemon and salt the barkeeper gave him with the shots.

“Probably not,” he added when he put the glass down, and grabbed the next one.

When he had finished the last glass, and put it down he grimaced at the tangy taste of the liquid.

Roman just shook his head in disbelief.

Not even fifteen minutes later Virgil was pretty drunk. Roman watched over him the entire time. But the anxious trait just became quiet and seemed lost in thought, staring at the counter in front of him.

The currently playing song ended, and Patton and Logan made their way back from the dancefloor to the others at the bar. Logan looked very relieved.

At the same time the next song started and Virgil raised his head quickly in surprise, recognizing the sounds of the piano. A wide grin appeared on his face when he heard the first few lines of Bulletproof Heart by MCR, and he stood up. Roman watched him confused as the anxious side made his way to the dancefloor. He reached the middle of the dancing crowd just in time when the guitar and drums started to play, and started to dance unbridled. The other one stared at him in surprise. He had never seen the emo nightmare dancing.

“Hey! How are you two doing? Are you having fun?” Patton asked happy, when he and Logan had reached Roman.

Roman smirked.

“Looks like _he_ is having a lot of fun,” he said, nodding in Virgil’s direction.

Logan and Patton followed his look, staring at the anxious trait as well.

“Aw, he looks so happy,” Patton chuckled.

“Anyway, we want to go home soon. Are you coming with us?” Logan asked.

Roman was still looking at the dancing side. Virgil looked like he was having a lot of fun for the first time in a long time.

“Nah. I don’t want to ruin his happiness. I’ll let him enjoy it as long as it persists,” the prince answered.

“Okay, but please keep an eye on him,” Patton said.

“Sure I will,” Roman said, waving as the other two sides were leaving.

\-------------------------

When the song ended Virgil returned to the fanciful side at the bar.

“That looked very good, Hot Topic,” Roman said, smirking.

Virgil chuckled.

“Shut up, Princey,” he said without any venom in his voice.

The youngest stumbled a bit, and Roman rushed to his side.

“Okay, I think it’s time to go home,” he said determined.

Virgil sulked.

“Boo!” he exclaimed in disapproval.

But Roman wasn’t taking no for an answer.

When the two exited the disco Roman had one arm around Virgil’s middle, and had put one of Virgil’s arms around his own shoulders.

As they made their way on the sidewalk the anxious side was just giggling. Roman couldn’t think of anything cuter.

“You’re actually a good guy,” Virgil mumbled, pointing one finger at the prince’s chest.

Roman’s heart skipped a beat at that comment, and he smiled.

Suddenly Virgil lost his balance and fell to the side, carrying the startled prince down with him.

Now the two were lying on the grass next to the sidewalk, Roman was leaning over Virgil.

Virgil just giggled uncontrollably, and all Roman could think of was how even more beautiful the emo nightmare looked like when he was smiling.

Roman couldn’t suppress the violent desire anymore.

And so he just kissed him.

It was a gentle but resolute 5 seconds lasting kiss.

When they broke apart Virgil just blinked at the prince above him with wide eyes and a surprised expression on his face.

But then he just giggled again in his drunk state.

‘ _Okay, he’s too drunk to process what just happened_ ,’ Roman thought a bit frustrated.

He stood up again, raising the youngest up to his feet.

Then they continued to go home. Virgil was giggling the entire way. The dark trait mumbled something here and there, but Roman couldn’t understand him, because he was slurring his speech.

When they finally arrived back home Roman put the drunk side to bed, who fell asleep quickly before the prince went to his room as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (I just want to clarify that I don't recommend drinking alcohol when you're in a bad mood. I don't think it's a good idea or a good way to deal with it.)
> 
> As always I'm happy about every comment and kudo! <3


	12. You Are The Reason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is chapter 12! I really enjoyed writing it! It is a bit intense, though. The title of the chapter is chosen from the song You Are The Reason by Calum Scott. I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Warnings: misunderstanding, a lot of arguing, shouting, (But don’t worry. There will be a reconciling at the end.)

There was no way Roman could sleep that night. A thousand thoughts were running through his head. What had he done? Did he ruin their friendship with that rash action? Would Virgil hate him when he woke up and remembered what he had done?

The fanciful side was in complete turmoil. At 6 am he decided to go to the kitchen to make some coffee since he couldn’t sleep anyway.

So now he was sitting at the table, drinking his coffee with shaky hands.

Eventually Patton entered the kitchen, and looked very surprised to see someone awake so early.

“Good morning, Roman! Are you alright?” Patton greeted, waving his hand.

“It’s quite unusual for you to be up earlier than me,” he added, smiling at the prince.

But Roman rushed to his side, grabbing the moral side’s shoulders. He stared at him. Patton could see the despair in the other’s eyes.

“Kiddo, what’s wrong?” he asked concerned.

“I-I kissed him! Patton, I kissed him! Oh my god, what do I do? He will hate me. Or worse. He will kill me!” Roman blurted out.

“What?” Patton was confused, knitting his brows.

“Who did you kiss?”

“Virgil!” Roman almost shouted, entirely panicking.

“WHAT?!” Patton exclaimed.

Roman was just pacing back and forth, chewing nervously on his thumbnail.

Patton needed a moment to process what Roman had just told him.

“Wait. Okay, how did that happen?” he asked curiously.

Roman paused.

“Is that important at this moment?! Patton, what do I do? I need your help!”

Patton raised his hands to sooth the flustered side.

“Okay, why are you so worried?”

“Because I don’t know if he will hate me. We just became sort of like friends. And I ruined it.”

Patton calmly laid a hand on Roman’s shoulder.

“How do you feel about him?”

Roman blinked for a second.

“I-I don’t know.”

“Is it more than friendship?” Patton asked.

Roman blushed.

“Definitively,” he admitted, looking away a bit sheepishly.

“What makes you think that Virgil maybe doesn’t feel the same way?” Patton asked.

Roman frowned, looking down at his feed sadly.

“There is no way he likes me back. Not after how I’ve treated him in the past.”

Patton sighed.

“Roman, that is long in the past. I’m sure Virgil forgave you already.”

Roman looked up, a tiny bit of hope in his eyes.

“Do you think?”

Patton chuckled.

“Of course I do! You said it yourself: you became friends over the last few weeks.”

Roman thought about it, calming a bit down.

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I shouldn’t worry about it so much, and just wait and see what he thinks about this whole situation.”

Patton nodded, smiling proudly. But then he paused, thinking.

“Um, kiddo?” he asked.

Roman looked at the moral side.

“Yes?”

“Was there consent when you kissed Virgil?” Patton asked, raising an eyebrow.

Roman froze.

“Um…well…” the prince searched for words.

“Roman!” Patton said admonishingly.

“It was on impulse! I didn’t plan it,” Roman tried to defend himself.

Patton sighed, shaking his head.

“I think I’m in no position to lecture you. I did the same with Logan back then,” he admitted.

Roman looked surprised before a confident smile appeared on his lips.

“Aha!” he exclaimed, pointing a finger at Patton.

“But it’s still not okay, Roman!” Patton added.

Roman sighed, slouching his shoulders.

“I know.”

Patton nodded, content.

“Just please be careful when you talk to Virgil about it. Don’t press him. You know he is a bit withdrawn and suspicious. Be patient.”

Roman frowned, a bit offended.

“Of course I will be patient. I wouldn’t push him. What do you think of me? That this is just a game for me?”

Patton shook his head, raising his hands in defeat.

“Just be careful. I don’t want Virgil to get hurt again,” the moral side added.

Roman crossed his arms, sighing.

“I get it. I would never hurt him…again,” Roman said, sounding a bit guilty. He still had a bad conscience.

\----------------------

Virgil woke up with a headache, groaning slightly. He slowly sat up in his bed, grabbing his head with one hand. He had really overdone it last night.

He didn’t remember everything from last night. But one thing he did remember.

He had kissed the prince. It was all blurry, but he was certain that he had kissed him.

The anxious side gritted his teeth, causing his headache to worsen. Apparently Roman was nice enough to bring him home and put him to bed. And here he wanted to spend the rest of his miserable life, not seeing the prince and having to talk about what had happened last night.

He was so embarrassed both of his drunkenness and the kiss. He would never be able to look the prince in the eyes again. He just hoped that the fanciful side wouldn’t make a big deal about it. Then again it was Roman. Who was he kidding? Of course he would be extra about it. He might even make fun of him because of it.

Virgil sighed. He had to leave his room at some point. Even if it was just for an aspirin and some water.

So he stood up and dragged himself into the hallway. When he reached the stairs, he heard two familiar voices talking downstairs.

“…this is just a game for me.” He heard the prince saying.

Then he heard Patton’s voice.

“Just be careful. I don’t want Virgil to get hurt again.”

Virgil froze in shock. They were talking about him. And that Roman was just playing with him. Was the prince just tricking him the entire time? The whole friendship thing and the nice demeanor was just acting? It was all a fucking joke to the fanciful side?

Virgil could feel the hurt and rage welling up inside him. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth.

Then there were fast footsteps and a door shutting.

\--------------------

“Just talk to him about it,” Patton suggested, smiling softly.

“Yeah, I think you’re right. Thanks, Pat,” Roman said, nodding at the moral side and leaving the kitchen.

He made his way to the dark wooden door of Virgil’s room and knocked. He was nervous, but they had to talk about it some time or another.

The door was opened.

“Hey, Virge. How do you feel…WOW!” Roman exclaimed when he saw the other.

The anxious side looked at him with a death stare, eyes red from crying. But that wasn’t what shocked Roman the most. The usual dark shadows under the youngest’s eyes were pitch black, and Roman wasn’t even sure, if it was just eyeshadow anymore.

Virgil took a step out of his room into the hallway. Roman took a step back. There were dark shadows swirling like black flames around the dark trait.

Something like that only happened when a side was really upset. Like boiling with rage.

Roman raised his hands defending.

“W-what’s wrong? What made you so upset?” Roman asked with a shaky voice.

“You know damn well!” Virgil shouted with a demonic echo in his voice.

“What? Because of the kiss?” Roman asked confused. He had never thought that it would make Virgil this angry.

“No! Because of everything else! You gave me shit! I can’t believe I was dumb enough to trust you!” the youngest shouted.

Now Roman was at a complete loss.

“Wait. What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your whole acting performance where you pretended you have changed for the better, and that we were becoming friends. I even slept in your bed! Urgh! I think I’m going to puke!” Virgil blurted out in his anger.

“You fooled me!” he added even louder.

“Virgil, that’s not true!” Roman looked at the anxious side with wide eyes. He had no idea what the youngest was talking about.

But Virgil wasn’t done yet. He took a step towards the prince.

“Then tell me, Roman. Why did you act so nice? Why did you say that you had a bad conscience and wanted to make up for it? Why did you help me so often, and protected me and comforted me when I needed it?”

Tears welled up in the corners of Virgil’s eyes as he said those words. It just hurt so much.

“Why did you pretend that you were actually caring?” he screamed, tears running down his cheeks.

Roman was in a desperate state. So he didn’t really think about what he said.

“Because I love you!”

The words just came out of his mouth. Roman’s eyes widened in shock when he realized the meaning behind them. But he knew it was the truth.

Virgil stared at the fanciful side in shock as well. The swirling shadows around him slowly dissolved.

He looked at the prince startled for a moment before his look turned angry again.

“That might be the worst trick you have ever played on me,” he said quietly, but you could hear the hurt in his voice.

The anxious side shook his head and turned around, going into his room and slamming the door shut.

Roman could feel the tears welling up in the corners of his eyes. He turned around, entering his room as well, because he didn’t want anyone to see him crying his eyes out.

\-------------------------

When the shouting had stopped, Logan opened the door of his room, peeking in the hallway. The other two sides must have left to their rooms. He opened the door completely, and went to the kitchen where he found Patton sitting at the table.

“Hello, Patton,” he greeted the moral side.

Patton looked up at him with a slightly sad expression on his face.

“Hello, Logan,” he responded, not having the usual enthusiasm in his voice.

Logan knitted his brows.

“What’s wrong, Patton?”

The normally excited side sighed.

“I’m worried about the other two kiddos.”

“Oh, you mean the argument just now,” Logan stated.

“You heard it, too?”

“It was impossible to not hear it, Patton.”

Patton sighed again.

“I thought it was a good idea, if they talk. I didn’t want them to bicker.”

Logan sat down next to his boyfriend, laying a hand on his arm to comfort him.

“It is always a good idea to talk one’s problems out. Otherwise, they will never be solved.”

Patton slightly smiled at the logical side.

“Thanks, Logan. I hope you’re right.”

\-------------------------

Later that day Patton called them all to dinner. When Roman stepped out of his room he saw Virgil in the hallway about to go to the kitchen as well.

The prince immediately turned towards him.

“Virgil, please. Let me explain. It’s not as you think,” he started, but the anxious side didn’t show the slightest inclination to stop and listen to him.

Roman stopped him by grabbing his arm.

“Virge, please. Listen to me,” he said desperately.

Virgil stopped, looking at Roman’s hand on his arm. Then he slowly looked up at the prince.

“Let go of me before I lose my temper,” he said slowly with a calm, but threatening voice.

Roman was startled by the growl in the youngest voice, and let go of him.

As soon as Virgil didn’t feel the grip of the prince’s hand anymore he continued his way to the kitchen, leaving the fanciful side behind in the hallway.

\-------------------------

Dinner went terrible. Roman just picked at his food, lost in his thoughts. He had no appetite. He looked at Virgil over and over, but the anxious side had decided to ignore him completely.

Patton and Logan exchanged worried glances, but didn’t say anything.

When Virgil had finished his plate, he stood up, put the dishes into the dishwasher, and left the kitchen without a word.

Roman sighed, standing up as well.

He apologized to Patton and Logan, and followed the dark trait.

When he had caught up with him he grabbed his shoulder, turning him around and forcing Virgil to look at him.

“We have to talk about it at some point,” Roman said.

“Or we don’t have to,” Virgil responded plainly, about to turn around again.

But Roman stopped him.

“Then just listen to me!”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Virgil blurted out.

“Come on, Virgil. We have to get over this dispute,” Roman said.

“Not really, because I’m done with you. For good!” Virgil said with a snappish tone in his voice.

Roman backed off a bit.

“But why? I still don’t get it,” he said confused.

Virgil frowned.

“Because you were lying to me the whole time! You fooled me!” Virgil shouted, spreading out his arms.

The prince shook his head.

“No, I didn’t! I was honest with you!”

Virgil scoffed.

“Okay, just let us pretend for one second that you didn’t lie to me, and what you said earlier was true, which, just for the record, I’m absolutely not buying. What would happen? We would become a couple and you would hurt me again!”

“No!” Roman exclaimed before he paused.

“Wait. Did you just imply that we would become a couple? Does that mean you’re feeling the same?”

Virgil paused before shaking his head.

“No! I mean, maybe. But it doesn’t matter! I don’t trust you! You hurt me, and you’ll hurt me again, and I can’t stand that!” he said desperately with an anxious voice.

Roman frowned, crossing his arms.

“That’s not fair. You can’t blame me for something I haven’t even done yet. Yes, I have treated you badly in the past, and yes, I have had a bad conscience. But I’m done with that now. I said sorry for it. I won’t feel guilty anymore,” the prince stated, turning around and heading towards his room. He paused in the doorway.

“It’s up to you now,” he said, entering his room and closing the door behind him, leaving the anxious side behind in the hallway.

\-------------------------

Patton was shrinking further into himself while the other two were arguing upstairs.

“I don’t like that,” he said sadly.

Logan came to his side, rubbing circles on the moral sides back.

“I’m certain they will reconcile with each other.”

“I’m not so sure. It sounds intense,” Patton said with concern in his voice.

“So, what do you suggest we should do?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Patton sighed.

“I’ll talk to them later when they calm down a bit. Maybe I can help.”

\-------------------------

Virgil was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling lost in thought. Suddenly he could hear a knock at his door. He sighed, not being in the mood to talk. But when he heard Patton’s voice from the other side, he couldn’t send him away.

“Come in.”

The door was opened and Patton stuck his head in.

“Hey, kiddo. Can I talk to you for a second?” he asked softly. You could hear the concern in his voice.

Virgil just nodded, sitting up in his bed with crossed legs.

Patton entered the room completely, sitting next to the youngest on the bed.

“Um, I couldn’t help but notice that you and Roman argued earlier. What happened?”

Virgil frowned confused.

“You know what he did. I heard him talking to you.”

Now it was Patton, who looked confused.

“What? Ah, you mean that he had kissed you last night?”

Virgil stared at the moral side startled.

“What did you just say?” the anxious side asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Well, he told me that he had kissed you, and that he was worried what you might think about it, because he didn’t want to ruin your friendship.”

Virgil shook his head in disbelief.

“I thought that I had kissed _him_. But why would he kiss _me_?”

Patton chuckled.

“Because he likes you, silly.”

Virgil couldn’t think straight.

“But I heard him saying that it was all just a game for him,” he said confused, looking at Patton for answers.

Patton thought about it for a moment before he realized what the anxious side meant.

“Oh, kiddo. I think you misinterpreted that. Actually, he said the exact opposite thing. Let me tell you this much: he was really worried about what you might think of the kiss, and that you would hate him for it.”

Virgil could feel his stomach tying up in knots.

“If that’s true I made a huge mistake,” he said, feeling guilty.

“I think I have to talk to him,” the anxious side stated.

Patton nodded proudly, smiling at the dark trait.

“Yeah, you should probably do that.”

\-------------------------

Roman had calmed down a bit, and had refreshed himself. He was about to sit at his desk to distract himself with brainstorming, although he didn’t think that would work, when he heard a knock at his door. He went to the door and opened it. He raised an eyebrow in surprise when he saw the youngest fumbling nervously with the sleeves of his hoodie.

“Virgil.”

The anxious side tried to look the prince in the eyes. He was almost shaking with uneasiness and nervousness.

“Hey, Ro.”

There was an awkward silence for a moment.

Roman crossed his arms.

“Is there anything you want?” he asked, slightly irritated.

Virgil had to take a deep breath to ease himself before he could start talking.

“Look, I’m sorry. I misinterpreted what I had overheard earlier.”

Roman looked at him unimpressed.

“Okay,” was all he responded.

The dark trait rolled his eyes desperately.

“Come on, Roman. This is really hard for me.”

“What? To apologize decently?” Roman asked in a snippy tone.

“Yeah, I can see that,” the prince added.

Virgil thought about just turning around and going to his room again. But he couldn’t. He had to go through with this now.

He rubbed his neck awkwardly.

“No. To confess that I like you back,” he mumbled.

But Roman heard him very well. The prince’s eyes widened in surprise as he unfolded his arms.

“Virgil…”

“Look, Roman. I don’t know if it’s a good idea if we become a couple,” Virgil blurted out.

Roman took a step closer to the babbling side.

“It would definitely not be easy, and it might not even work. There’re so many things which could go wrong and…” he paused to take a breath.

Roman took another step towards the youngest. But Virgil was still rambling on.

“…do you even know what you would get yourself into? I’m a mess! I’m anxious, I’m worrying about everything. Oh my god. I’ll completely screw this up.”

Now Roman stood in front of Virgil, gently holding the dark trait’s face with his hands.

Virgil paused, looking at the prince with wide eyes.

“Virgil, shut up,” the creative side said, looking down at his counterpart’s lips.

Roman was slowly leaning down, giving the anxious side time to avoid him, if he didn’t agree. Virgil looked at the prince’s approaching lips, realizing what would happen next. But he didn’t back away.

Then Roman kissed the dark trait softly, but determinedly.

Virgil froze, his whole body tensing up. But he soon relaxed, closing his eyes and leaning into the kiss as well.

When they broke apart, Virgil just blinked at the fanciful side with wide eyes.

Then he did something Roman had never expected him to do. The anxious side was wrapping his arms around the prince’s neck, kissing him passionately.

When they broke apart for the second time, it was Roman who looked stunned.

“Okay, wow,” the prince managed to say.

Virgil blushed hard.

“Sorry, I was waiting for this moment for so long,” he admitted quietly, looking away sheepishly.

Roman smiled softly, putting his hands on Virgil’s waist and pulling him closer. He gently grabbed the youngest’s chin, turning his head to look him in the eyes.

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always I'm happy about every comment and kudo!


	13. To get to your heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "I'm back! Did you miss me?" - Roman Sanders
> 
> Hey guys! Alright, I have finally managed to upload the next chapter! There is a tiny bit angst and a lot of fluff in this one. I hope you like it!  
> The title of this chapter is inspired by the song Ocean by Martin Garrix feat. Khalid.
> 
> And for all who are still following and reading this story: A huge THANK YOU! I know it's been a while since the last update, but I had a few exams, and some personal stuff to deal with.  
> But I'm honestly thankful for your patience!
> 
> Warnings: thoughts of self-doubt

The next day Virgil woke up feeling slightly different. Usually he didn’t feel like facing the day, and just wanted to stay in bed. But today he was somehow looking forward to getting up and leaving his room.

So he got ready quickly, putting on some black skinny jeans, a purple t-shirt, and his hoodie.

When he left his room and entered the hallway he saw the door to Roman’s room opening as well.

His heart skipped a beat when he saw the prince exiting his room. Roman noticed the anxious side, and smiled at him, heading towards his boyfriend.

“Good morning, sunshine!” he said happily, putting one hand on Virgil’s cheek and kissing him softly.

When they broke apart, Virgil smirked.

“I could get used to that.”

“That can be arranged,” Roman smiled, chuckling.

“Come on, I’m hungry,” the prince said, grabbing the youngest’s hand and dragging him behind with him.

When they entered the kitchen, Logan and Patton were already there. Patton stood at the kitchen counter, making breakfast. Logan sat at the table with a newspaper in one hand, and a cup of coffee in the other.

“Good morning!” Roman greeted cheerfully.

“Morning, kiddo!” Patton responded, but when he turned around and saw the prince holding Virgil’s hand, he froze in his action. A wide grin appeared on his face, and he squealed.

“Aaaahhh! Finally!” Patton exclaimed, jumping up and down.

“Right?” Roman smiled as well, letting go of Virgil’s hand and going towards Patton to jump up and down with him, squealing as well.

Virgil looked blankly at the two sides who were behaving like some crazy fangirls.

He sat down next to Logan who just smirked.

“Welcome to my world. Nice to have you,” the logical side said, sipping at his coffee.

Virgil groaned, letting his head fall onto the table.

“What have I gotten myself into?”

“Do not worry. You will get used to it eventually,” Logan said without looking up from the newspaper.

“I doubt it,” Virgil responded with a frown.

Patton turned towards the dark trait.

“Oh come on, kiddo! Don’t pretend that you aren’t happy. I can see it in your eyes,” Patton said with a smile.

Virgil snorted.

“Whatever,” he said, blushing slightly and looking away sheepishly.

This earned him another squeal, but this time from the prince who wrapped his arms around Virgil, hugging him tightly.

“Aww, you’re so cute!” Roman exclaimed.

Virgil tried to escape the iron grip of the fanciful side without success.

“No, I’m not! Shut up!” he said irritated, trying to push the fanciful side away.

“Now get off of me,” he added, and Roman let go of him, still smiling.

“Yes, you are!” the prince insisted.

Virgil groaned, rolling his eyes.

Yes, Patton was right. He was happy. But something in the back of his mind stung when he thought about it. He was happy _for now_. Virgil knew it wouldn’t last forever. It never did. Eventually Roman would get tired of him or realize what a huge mistake he had made by dating him. Somehow Virgil would ruin the whole thing. He had risked lowering his walls and let Roman in, trusting him. And because of that it will destroy him completely when it all goes downhill.

“Virgil? Hello? Somebody home in there?”

Virgil was torn out of his thoughts when he heard Roman who was snapping his fingers in front of his face.

He looked up and into the prince’s slightly concerned face.

“What were you thinking about?” Roman asked, raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

Virgil looked down at the table in front of him, avoiding the other’s gaze.

“Nothing,” he mumbled.

Roman frowned, not satisfied with this response, but he let it slide, not wanting to push Virgil unnecessarily.

To Virgil’s relief breakfast went by rather quietly. Right after they had cleaned the table and put the dishes into the dishwasher, he went straight to his room, needing some quiet.

He was sitting on the edge of his bed, hands held loosely in his lab. He could feel his thoughts beginning to spiral.

Will he screw this whole relationship thing up? No, the better question was _how_ will he screw it up? Because there was no doubt that he would. He will be the one to blame when Roman breaks up with him. The fanciful side was always so caring and courteous, but Virgil will never be able to return such nice behavior. He was an introvert, antisocial, unfriendly, hardly patient, insecure...everything Roman was not. It was just a matter of time before the creative side would get bored by him or they got into a fight.

Had it been smart to let down his guard in the first place when he’ll end up getting hurt anyway? What if Roman wasn’t honest, and was still playing with him? No, no. He wouldn’t do that, would he? God, what was wrong with him? He really had trust issues.

It didn’t matter how it would go down, because it would result in Virgil hating himself even more for pushing the prince away. He was so pathetic.

The anxious side sighted heavily, putting his face in his hands.

Why was he like that? Why couldn’t he just be happy? Why did he have to think about every possible unpleasant outcome to every situation? Oh, right. That’s what he was.

How could someone like Roman want to date someone like him?

A knock at his door interrupted his thoughts.

He looked up, not answering.

“Virge? Are you okay? You left so quickly, and I wondered if something was wrong,” the fanciful side asked from the other side of the door.

Virgil could imagine the concerned look on Roman’s face. God, why did he have to be so nice and caring? Virgil had left the kitchen without a word. He didn’t deserve his solicitude. And now on top of all that he had made the prince worry. Great. He was an A+ boyfriend.

“If you don’t mind, I’m coming in now,” Roman said, because he didn’t receive any respond.

The fanciful side opened the door slowly and stuck his head in, looking at the side sitting on the bed.

“Are you alright?” he asked softly.

Virgil couldn’t look him in the eyes, looking at his feet instead.

He just shrugged, because he didn’t know what to say.

Roman entered the room completely, closing the door behind him. He came over to Virgil, sitting down next to him.

“Hey,” he began, putting a hand on the dark trait’s back.

“What’s wrong?”

Virgil leaned against Roman, putting his head on the prince’s shoulder.

“Dunno,” he mumbled.

Roman laid his other arm around the youngest and hugged him.

“If you tell me what’s going on in this beautiful head of yours, maybe I can offer some help?” Roman said softly.

There was a moment of silence between them. But Roman didn’t want to push Virgil, because he knew he had to give the anxious side time when he wanted him to open up, and tell him what was going on.

“It’s just…” Virgil began.

“Are you sure about this whole relationship thing? Did you think it through?” he asked with worry in his voice, looking up at Roman to see his reaction.

“And here we go,” Roman sighed, but smiled softly.

Virgil was confused.

“What do you mean by that?” he asked.

“We aren’t even dating for 24 hours, and you already doubt our relationship. Well, I expected it sometime, but not this soon,” Roman chuckled, hugging Virgil a bit tighter.

The youngest pulled a pouty face by that statement.

“And no, I didn’t think it all through. But I don’t have to, because I’m sure as hell about my feelings for you. Everything else will work out somehow,” the fanciful said, placing a soft kiss on Virgil’s cheek.

Virgil blushed slightly, relaxing a bit into his boyfriend’s arms.

“Aren’t you afraid of getting hurt?” the dark trait almost whispered.

“No. Because even if I get hurt, this is totally worth it,” Roman said, gently grabbing Virgil’s chin and lifting his head up, so he could kiss the dark trait on his lips.

Roman could feel Virgil smiling into the kiss, and he was glad that he was able to lift the mood of his little emo nightmare.

When they broke apart, Roman smiled back at the dark trait.

“Do you want to be left alone?”

Virgil shook his head in respond.

“Well, then…cuddling?” the prince asked with a grin.

A small smile appeared on the anxious side’s face as well.

“That would be okay, I guess,” he said, shrugging.

Roman raised an eyebrow.

“Just ‘okay’? I’m the best at cuddling! You’ll never want to leave my side ever again after you’ve experienced it!” the fanciful side exclaimed as he was lying down on the bed.

Virgil rolled his eyes, lying down next to the prince on the bed.

“Shut up, Princey,” he said, curling up next to the prince, enjoying the warmth coming from his boyfriend.

Roman chuckled slightly, laying an arm around the anxious side. This boy in his arms was so precious, although the little storm cloud tried to convince everyone around him otherwise. He could hardly believe his luck. He was so happy. There had to be something he could do to convince Virgil how much he loved him, and to stop him from worrying about their relationship.

\-------------------------

Roman was sitting at his desk, brainstorming.

When Virgil and he had cuddled earlier he had the idea of proving his love to the anxious side so Virgil would stop doubting their relationship. He had a list with several ideas for the perfect first date for them. He just couldn’t decide what Virgil would like to eat for dinner.

So he decided to get some help.

He entered the living room, where Patton and Logan were currently sitting on the couch, talking.

“Ah, there you are. Patton, I need your opinion on something,” Roman said as he sat down right between the two, ignoring the slightly offended look on Logan’s face, because he had rudely interrupted them.

“What’s up, Roman?” Patton asked, looking at the list Roman had brought with him.

“I had the idea to take Virgil out on a date,” the prince began.

“Oh, that’s so cute!”

“Yes, I know,” Roman said with a confident smile.

Logan immediately turned his attention back to his book he had been reading before he had started talking to Patton, deciding that this was not his department.

“Anyway, I need your help with deciding what Virgil would like to have for dinner.”

“First, tell me what you have planned so far,” Patton said curiously.

“Oh, it’s spectacular! I surpassed myself! First I’ll invite him to my kingdom. Then we will have a wonderful dinner at my castle with a string quartet in the background. So this is where I need your help with, because I don’t know what to do for dinner. Anyway, after that we will have a small walk through the kingdom, watching the sunset. At the end of the walk when it’s already dark I will conjure a blanket, and we will look at the beautiful night sky. Besides, it’s the perfect season for shooting stars,” Roman explained, looking excitedly at Patton when he finished.

“Awful idea,” Logan intervened.

Roman frowned, turning his head towards the logical side.

“Excuse you? What do you know about romantic gestures?” Roman asked offended.

“Well, I know that Virgil is pretty much an introvert, and might not enjoy these things as much as you think he would,” Logan stated, adjusting his glasses.

Patton’s so far excited smile fell a bit by that statement.

“Um, Roman. Logan might has a point. I think Virgil would be a bit overwhelmed by all of that for a first date,” the moral side admitted.

Roman thought about it for a moment before groaning and slamming his hand on his forehead.

“Urgh, you’re right. It’s a bit too extra. What should I do instead?”

Patton tilted his head a bit, thinking.

“Maybe you should start with something simple. Something calm and relaxing. What about a movie night, and some delicious snacks?” he suggested.

Roman’s face lit up, sitting up straight.

“That’s actually a wonderful idea! Thank you, Patton!” the prince exclaimed, jumping off of the couch and heading to his room.

“I’ll immediately start preparing everything!” he added.

“Well, you’re welcome,” Logan called after the fanciful side slightly offended, but Roman had already entered his room, not hearing him.

The logical side shook his head, looking at Patton in disbelief.

“Unbelievable! I helped, too. I pointed out the mistake in the first place.”

Patton chuckled, patting Logan’s shoulder.

“I know. You’re so smart and helpful. Roman is just a bit excited that’s all. Don’t take it personally.”

Logan just huffed, sinking further into the couch.

\-------------------------

It was already evening, and Roman had prepared the living room for his first date with Virgil. He had brought every blanket and pillow he owned, and had built a huge pillow fort. He had also decorated it with some strings of lights. It looked very comfy.

The entrance to the pillow fort faced the TV, so they could watch the movies from inside.

Roman had made some cookies with Patton’s help, and had put them on a plate in the middle of the pillow fort along with some ice cream in case Virgil didn’t want the cookies.

The prince put his hands on his hips, looking proudly at the outcome. It wasn’t as extra as he would like it to be, but he had to think about what Virgil would enjoy. He just hoped that his little storm cloud would like it.

He was heading towards Virgil’s room, knocking on his door.

A few seconds later the door opened, and the anxious side looked up at Roman.

“Hey, Ro. What’s up-Hey!”

Virgil was a bit taken by surprise when the prince pulled him out of his room, turning him around and covering his eyes.

“Um, what the hell, Princey?” the youngest asked confused.

“Sh! I have a surprise for you,” Roman said, giggling slightly.

Virgil groaned.

“I don’t like surprises.”

“This one you will like. Well, at least I hope so,” Roman responded, feeling a bit nervous. A feeling he only felt around Virgil.

The fanciful side guided his boyfriend carefully down the hallway and down the stairs. When they stood in the living room Roman uncovered Virgil’s eyes and went to the pillow fort, spreading out his arms.

“What do you think? Do you like it?”

Virgil blinked at the sight in front of him.

“I thought about a movie night. I even brought some snacks if you like,” Roman said, growing more nervous, because of the lack of a response from Virgil.

“Is this-You did this for me?” Virgil asked with wide eyes.

“I know it’s not much for a first date. Are you mad?” Roman asked, slouching his shoulders and dropping his arms to the sides of his body.

“Furious,” Virgil said playfully, chuckling.

“No, I really like it. It’s perfect,” he added, inspecting the pillow fort further.

Roman let out a sigh of relief and smiled, offering the youngest to enter the pillow fort.

Virgil did so and laid down prone on the blankets Roman had put on the ground. The fanciful side joined him and laid next to him.

“What movie do you want to watch first?” Roman asked.

“What do you have to offer?” Vigil asked back with a smirk.

Roman chuckled.

“Oh, a lot, honey,” he answered, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Never call me that again,” Virgil said, still smirking slightly.

Roman ignored him and crawled to the cupboard with the DVD's.

“What about Mulan?” Roman suggested.

“Nah, we have seen that a million times.”

“Still a good movie,” Roman responded.

“I didn't say it isn't,” Virgil said.

“Okay, what about Bambi?”

The anxious side thought about it for a moment before he shrugged.

“That's okay I suppose.”

Roman nodded and put the DVD in the DVD player.

He crawled back next to Virgil and turned the TV on with the remote.

When the movie started Roman moved closer to Virgil, but the anxious side didn't mind.

During the movie Roman snuggled up more and more to Virgil who was enjoying the body heat from his boyfriend.

For the second movie they chose One Hundred and One Dalmatians, but they didn't pay much attention to it, because they were completely cuddled up.

Roman was leaning over Virgil who was now laying on his back, looking up at the creative side.

The prince looked him in the eyes, and brushed a strand of hair out of the anxious side’s face.

“I'm so happy to be with you,” Roman said, smiling.

The youngest blushed hard by these word, looking away sheepishly.

“But why?” Virgil asked, still not really understanding why the prince liked him back.

Roman tilted his head confused.

“What do you mean 'why'?”

Virgil turned his head to look at the creative side again.

“Well, I'm not really the greatest person to be around with. I'm anxious, I'm worrying about almost everything. Most of the time I'm depressed. Heck, some days I don't even want to leave my room.”

Roman smiled softly at his boyfriend.

“Because of all that, my dear,” he said, placing a soft kiss on Virgil's forehead.

Virgil knitted his brows in confusion.

“Come again?”

“Because despite all of that you're still getting out of bed, facing the day with all its challenges. You’re still trying to do your best. For Thomas, and for us.”

Virgil looked at Roman, speechless.

The fanciful side chuckled at the rare sight of Virgil being dumbfounded. He kissed the anxious side's neck, causing Virgil to giggle slightly, because it tickled him a bit.

Roman lifted his head again, letting out an excited sound.

“Oh, I totally forgot that you were ticklish! I love the sound of you laughing!”

“Nooo,” Virgil protested in disapproval.

But Roman had no mercy, and placed several kisses on the darker trait’s neck, causing Virgil to laugh out loud and squirm under the prince’s body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Roman is just a sweetheart, but I can't help it. I can't imagine him any other way plus Virgil deserves only the best.


	14. A tiny little problem

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here is chapter 14! I hope you guys like it!  
> (The title for this chapter isn't inspired by any song, because I forgot what music I was listening to when I wrote this chapter, and I couldn't find a song that would be adequate to this chapter. Oops!)
> 
> By the way, thank you all for the kudos and your kind comments. It's nice to see that you all like this story. It makes me really happy and encourages me.
> 
> Warnings: cursing

“What about that constant smile on your face?” Roxane asked curiously, chuckling.

Roman turned his head towards his life guard, still smiling.

“Well, if you insist on knowing: I’m finally and officially dating my crush!”

“Oh wow! I’m so happy for you, Prince Roman,” she said joyfully.

“Thanks, Roxane. I’m happy, too. He’s the most precious little emo you can imagine,” Roman said, grinning.

The fanciful side and his life guards were at a field in front of the castle, training.

Roman and Roxane were sitting in the grass while Liam and Robert were practicing their sword techniques by fighting one another.

“He’s so sweet and lovely, although he tries his hardest not to be,” Roman rambled on, slumping backwards into the grass.

“So he’s the exact opposite of you,” Liam said teasingly, turning around to the prince.

But at this moment Robert took advantage of Liam being distracted, disarming him with his sword and pushing him down into the grass, holding his sword against the younger man’s throat.

“Always keep your eyes glued to your enemy,” the older guard lectured.

Roman chuckled.

“You deserve that,” he said to Liam, who was lying in the grass, growling.

Robert held out his hand to Liam, who took it and stood up.

“Well, I can’t wait to get to know him,” Roxane continued, smiling at Roman.

“Yeah, I’ll bring him here eventually. You’ll like him.”

Suddenly they heard a loud roar, and the ground was quaking.

They all drew their weapons, looking around to see where the sound had come from.

“There!” Roxane shouted, pointing at the nearest forest.

Everyone looked in the direction the female life guard pointed.

Roman lowered his sword in disbelief. There was a giant creature, rising into the air and flying away in the opposite direction.

Smoke was coming from the place the creature had risen from the ground.

They needed a moment to think straight, but when they had recovered from the shock, they began to move.

“Hurry!” Roman commanded while running.

“Was that a freaking dragon?” Liam asked alarmed.

“What? Are you afraid, kiddo?” Robert asked with a calm, but slightly teasing voice.

“Don’t call me that!” the youngest of the guards exclaimed offended.

“Enough! We don’t have time for your bickering. There’re more important things to worry about right now!” Roxane said admonishingly.

After a few minutes of running, they arrived at the small village which was normally lying peacefully in the forest. But now it just looked like the last village they had found destroyed.

Roman gritted his teeth, and clenched his fists.

“Search for survivors,” he said, the anger rising up inside of him. He didn’t expect to find anyone, but they still had to try and look.

But they couldn’t find anyone this time either.

Roman punched against a wooden chunk of debris, cursing.

He hated to be so powerless, watching the citizens of his kingdom disappearing.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned his head. His eyes met Roxane’s who was looking at him, understanding.

“At least we know more or less where the creature flew, and we can send our troops in that direction,” she said, trying to calm the prince down.

“Do you think the dragon ate those citizens?” Liam asked curiously.

Roxane immediately turned around, and sent Liam an angry look which only implied ‘really?’, but Liam just shrugged, and formed a silent ‘What?’ with his lips.

Roxane rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

“I don’t think so. There is no blood,” Robert explained, looking around them.

“There is not much we can do right now. Maybe we should go back to the castle, and get in contact with the strategist to discuss our next steps,” Roxane said to the prince, squeezing his shoulder slightly.

Roman turned around, not saying a word and walking past the others back to the castle.

\-------------------------

At the mindscape the other sides obviously had noticed the quake as well.

Currently they were discussing whether they should go to Roman’s kingdom to see if everything was alright.

Virgil of course wanted to go to make sure the creative side was okay. But Logan thought it was too dangerous, and that Roman was most likely safe and sound, because it was his kingdom. Furthermore, he had his life guards with him.

“Besides, we don’t know the place. We have never been there. We would get lost for sure,” Logan reasoned.

“But we have to look for Roman! He might be hurt! Maybe he needs our help!” Virgil almost shouted.

Logan sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose.

“As I said: He has his life guards with him. Besides, what could we do? We are not qualified like soldiers. We can’t even hold a sword properly let alone fight with it.”

“I don’t care!” Virgil blurted out, the anxiety evident in his voice.

Patton stood there, not knowing what to say. He could understand both points of view. He worried about Roman, but Logan had a point, too.

“If you won’t come with me then I’ll go alone!” Virgil said, turning around and heading for Roman’s room.

But Logan ran past the youngest, cutting him off.

“I can’t let you do that. I won’t let anyone put themselves in danger,” the logical side said determined.

Virgil was scowling at Logan, clenching his fists.

“Screw you, Logan!” he said angrily, turning around and heading for his room. He shut his door with a loud slam.

The logical side sighed.

“He will calm down eventually,” Logan said to a concerned looking Patton.

“I’m worried about Roman,” Patton said, looking at the fanciful side’s door.

Logan followed his look.

“I’m certain he is okay. Well, at least I hope so.”

\-------------------------

Roman sat at a long table in the conference room of his castle. He was so annoyed by the babbling strategists around him. They had no constructive ideas on how to face a dragon. Everyone had thought there were no dragons in the kingdom. Well, at least no one had ever seen one. And now they were all panicking.

Roman closed his eyes, resting his head on one hand. He massaged his temples, trying to avoid the upcoming headache. But it was impossible due to the loud voices around him which were arguing in complete turmoil.

The prince frowned, cracking an eyelid open. Except for him no one was sitting at their seats anymore. He could see the strategists gesturing around intensively. His life guards tried to say something as well, but no one was paying attention to them.

It took one unexpected problem, and these office sitters didn’t know whether they were coming or going. Roman was certain none of them had ever held a sword in their hands. They were theorists who only knew how to defend a castle while sitting at their desks. They had their well-thought-out strategies, and when those wouldn’t work or didn’t fit the problem, they were at a loss. Well, not that they had much to do. His kingdom was peaceful, so normally they weren’t needed. And now Roman knew why: They were completely useless.

Eventually his patience snapped.

“Enough!” he said loudly, so that everyone stopped talking, looking at him.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere. I say we send the troops in the direction the creature flew. And to strengthen the castle’s defenses, I’m ordering to double the bowmen in the towers and on the walls. Maybe we should even place the catapults in front of the castle. In this way they are at least useful for once,” he said determined.

Everyone in the room was looking at the prince in awe.

“Is there anything else?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The strategists shook their heads quickly, not daring to say another word.

“Good, then I leave the rest to you,” Roman said, standing up and leaving the room.

When he was going through the large corridor, he could hear footsteps behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and saw his life guards catching up with him.

“That was awesome!” Liam exclaimed excitedly, beaming.

“You handled the situation well,” Roxane admitted to the prince.

Roman scoffed.

“They were annoying the hell out of me. I couldn’t bear listening to them for another minute,” he said.

“So, what now?” Liam asked.

“Now I’m going back to the mindscape. I’m sure the others have noticed the quake as well, and they are probably freaking out about it. I have to tell them that everything is fine.”

Roman turned around to look at his guards.

“I rely on you to contact me whenever something happens, understood?”

The three soldiers nodded simultaneously.

“Good. I’ll see you then.”

And with these words Roman made his way to the mindscape.

\-------------------------

Virgil was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. The only thing he could think of was if Roman was okay.

Last time the prince hadn’t come back from his kingdom Virgil was hindered by that stupid cast on his leg. But this time he was able to check up on him. And hell he would do that! They had just started dating, and Virgil wasn’t willing to risk losing his boyfriend by just doing nothing.

He sat up and went out of his room, heading for Roman’s room determined.

When he stood in front of the door to the prince’s kingdom about to grab the doorknob, he hesitated.

He had never been there. Would he even find Roman or would he get lost? But he had to check if he was okay. He just had to.

With a deep breath his determination returned, and he opened the door and stepped through.

When he entered the other dimension, fresh air was hitting his face. He opened his eyes which he hadn’t even notice he had closed, and saw that he was standing in a large field. He looked around, seeing a forest not far from him, and the top of the towers of a castle in the distance behind the forest. When he turned around, he saw that the door he had come through had vanished.

He swallowed hard. There was no turning back now. That meant there was just one way to go. Right through the forest to the castle. He was sure he would find Roman there. And so he began to move.

\-------------------------

Roman was glad to be back at home. It had been a rough day, and he didn’t want anything more than to relax a bit, and maybe cuddle with his boyfriend.

When he exited his room, he heard voices downstairs coming from the living room. He went down the stairs, and greeted Patton and Logan who were sitting on the couch. Both sides turned their heads towards the prince. Patton sprang up from the couch, and hugged Roman tightly.

“Roman! I’m so glad you’re okay!” the moral side exclaimed.

Roman smiled down at Patton, patting his back before the other let go of him.

“Did you worry this much about me?” he asked, feeling a bit guilty that they obviously had been concerned about him.

“Of course we did,” Logan said, smiling slightly, because he was glad that the creative side was safe and sound.

“Where is Virgil?” Roman asked after looking around, not seeing the anxious side.

“He should be upstairs. He was throwing a tantrum earlier, and went to his room,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses and frowning when he recalled Virgil’s emotional outburst.

Roman chuckled slightly.

“He threw a tantrum? Why?”

“He wanted to go to your kingdom to check on you, but Logan said that it was too dangerous, and didn’t let him go,” Patton explained.

The fanciful side sighed.

“Thanks Logan, it was the right thing to do. Actually it’s too dangerous right now for any of you to go there.”

Patton and Logan looked at each other confused.

“Why?” they asked simultaneously.

Roman took a deep breath, rubbing the back of his head.

“It seems that there is a dragon raging around in my kingdom. That’s what’s causing these quakes.”

“WHAT?!” Patton and Logan both exclaimed in shock.

The creative side held up his hands soothingly.

“Don’t panic. My guards will take care of it and will inform me when something is happening.”

“But Roman, that doesn’t sound good,” Patton said worried.

“Indeed. It is rather disturbing,” Logan added.

“Seriously guys, it’s fine. It’s not a big deal,” Roman lied. He didn’t want to worry the others more than necessary. Especially not Virgil. Otherwise, the anxious side wouldn’t want him to go to his kingdom anymore. But he had the duty to protect his citizens, and to fix this problem.

“Anyway, I’m going to see the little emo nightmare, letting him know that everything is okay,” the prince said, going upstairs.

Patton and Logan didn’t seem completely convinced by Roman’s words, but they couldn’t do much about it right now.

Roman had arrived at Virgil’s door, and knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again.

“Virge? It’s me. I’m back.”

When he didn’t receive an answer he pushed the door handle down, opening the door.

He entered the room, but found it empty.

He furrowed his brows, panicking slightly. But the prince told himself that there had to be a reasonable explanation where his storm cloud could be. So he turned around, going back into the hallway.

“Guys? He isn’t in his room,” he called downstairs.

“What? He has to be. We didn’t see him leaving his room,” he heard the moral side answering.

“But where could he be?” he heard the sound of Logan’s voice increasing, along with footsteps on the stairs.

When the other two sides arrived at Roman, they all looked slightly concerned at each other.

Logan gasped when it hit him.

“He wouldn’t have gone to your kingdom, would he?” Logan asked alarmed.

Roman’s eyes widened in panic.

“Shit!” he said, turning around and heading for his room. He didn’t hesitate to open the door to his kingdom, rushing through.

\-------------------------

Meanwhile in the prince’s kingdom Virgil was stumbling through the forest. Unfortunately there was no path, so he had to fight his way through it.

But he didn’t notice that he was being watched by a creature, hiding in the dense undergrowth.

A reptile eye was watching his every move, its vertical pupil constricting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you're not disappointed that the reason for these quakes is 'just' a dragon, and that there is no other extraordinary reason for them.


	15. Nothing is what it seems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Here is chapter 15! I hope you like it. I'm not completely content with the outcome, but knowing myself that I probably won't change it anymore, I might as well can upload it as it is.  
> (The title of this chapter isn't inspired by any song.)  
> And thank you all for your incredible patience! I know my update schedule is a mess, and you're probably all tired of me saying sorry. But still, I'm sorry that it took so long.
> 
> Warnings: slight injuries, argument

For almost an hour Virgil stumbled through the forest. He already had some small scratches on his skin here and there from the dense undergrowth, and some bushes even had thorns. Virgil cursed quietly at the abundant vegetation every time he got a new scratch.

He couldn’t see the end of the forest yet, so he just kept going.

After a few more minutes, the dark trait heard a familiar voice in the distance behind him.

The anxious side turned around, knitting his brows.

“Roman?” he asked surprised, sighing in relief when he saw the prince.

When the fanciful side saw him he stumbled through the scrub, and finally arrived at Virgil.

“Virgil! What are you doing here?” he asked the anxious side.

“I was looking for you,” the youngest answered after he had scanned Roman for any injuries.

“Are you okay?” he then asked.

Roman looked confused.

“Yeah, why shouldn’t I?”

“Because there was a quake earlier?” Virgil explained like it was obvious.

Roman’s eyes widened in realization.

“Oh, yeah, true.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes at the fanciful side.

“Well, are you coming home now?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

The creative side thought for a moment.

“Since you’re here I can show you something,” the prince said, gesturing Virgil to follow him.

Virgil hesitated, but followed the prince who turned around and made his way through the forest.

After a while, they came to a cave. The creative side went in without saying a word. Virgil grew a bit nervous, wondering where they were going.

They didn’t go very far into the cave. Suddenly the prince stopped, and when Virgil stood next to him he could see why. In front of them there was a steep slope that was about 9 feet deep.

“What is this?” Virgil asked confused, but before he received an answer he was pushed.

The youngest yelped as he stumbled and fell down the slope. When he landed hard on the ground, dust was swirling around him, and he coughed.

He could feel that his hands and knees were scratched open. His right cheek was burning, so he assumed that he had scratched it as well.

With a groan he pushed himself off of the ground.

“What the HELL?!” he shouted as he turned to the fanciful side who was still standing at the top of the slope.

But the only answer he got was a devious laugh. The prince looked at him with an evil grin.

“Oh, Virgil. I never thought that it would be that easy to trick you.”

Virgil narrowed his eyes suspiciously. That wasn’t Roman.

And as if the other had heard his thought he turned into a half human half snake-faced side.

“Deceit,” Virgil growled angrily.

\-------------------------

About an hour ago…

Deceit had been wandering through a forest in Roman’s kingdom. It wasn’t a coincidence.

Actually, he had planned to trap Roman and then change into him, pretending he was Thomas’ Creativity.

But he was hopelessly lost in the forest. Now he was walking around, just trying to find a way out of these woods.

Suddenly he heard noises coming from somewhere. It was just a cracking sound in the undergrowth, but he could swear there was someone.

Quietly he sneaked nearer to where the noises were coming from.

He hid in the undergrowth and was surprised when he saw the embodiment of Thomas’ Anxiety stumbling through the forest.

What was Virgil doing here?

But who cared? Maybe this was even better than trapping Roman. Anxiety always played a huge part in Thomas’ decision making. If he managed to pretend to be Virgil without the others noticing, then he would have a significant influence on Thomas.

Virgil was all alone. Nobody would notice if he trapped the dark trait here in the woods.

When the lying side was wandering through the forest earlier, he had seen a cave. That would be the perfect place to hide a side from the others.

Deceit grinned wickedly to himself. It was time to play-act.

\-------------------------

Roman was hurrying through the forest to find his boyfriend. He would never forgive himself if something happened to him.

But he had no idea where to look for the emo nightmare. He could be anywhere. His kingdom was huge.

So he had no other choice than to ask for help.

Therefore, he asked the animals in the forest if they had seen someone running around the woods. Somehow he was able to communicate with the animals in his kingdom. He didn’t quite know how it worked, because he couldn’t understand what they were saying, but somehow the animals always seemed to know what he wanted from them or what he was asking for. Maybe it was because he had created the whole kingdom and everything that was in it, although everything had started to work autonomously. But he didn’t really care about that right now.

Unfortunately, he had no luck. None of the animals had seen anybody.

That was until a squirrel crossed his way.

“Hey little friend!” Roman stopped the little gnawer, who was about to jump from one tree to another.

The squirrel froze in shock when it heard the prince’s voice. It turned its head and looked down from the limb it was sitting on.

“Hey, have you seen someone wandering around in these woods?” the prince asked, standing under the limb and looking up at the squirrel.

The squirrel looked back at him with big round eyes, titling its head.

“He probably wears a black and purple hoodie. Um, I don’t even know if you can see colors,” Roman wondered, getting off the point.

The squirrel’s nose wiggled a bit before it squeaked, earning the creative side’s attention.

Then it turned around and jumped away.

“Hey!” Roman shouted a bit disappointed.

The squirrel came back, squeaking again. This time it only jumped a few limbs further so the prince could still see the furball before it turned around and looked at the creative side expectantly.

“Do you want me to follow you?” Roman asked, the feeling of hope rising inside of him.

He earned another squeak in response.

\-------------------------

Deceit’s malicious laugh echoed through the cave. Virgil scowled at him.

“What’s your stupid plan this time?” the anxious side asked angrily.

Deceit’s laugh became silent as he looked down at Virgil, who was still standing at the foot of the slope.

“Oh, I don’t think it’s that stupid. First of all, you’re trapped. No one will find you here. Now, I just have to turn into you and pretend to be Thomas’ Anxiety. I’ll take your place,” Deceit explained with a wide grin on his face.

“That will never work. The others will notice,” Virgil said confident.

Deceit tried to suppress another laugh.

“We’ll see,” he just said, shrugging.

“Besides, Roman will find me,” Virgil said, crossing his arms.

“Ha! That moron? He doesn’t even notice when I’m lying straight into his face. Besides, do you really think that he likes you? Did you totally forget how he has treated you in the past?”

Virgil smirked unimpressed.

“I’m not listening to you. I know that the only thing you can do is lie. Roman has changed,” Virgil bluffed, trying to cover his growing anxiety.

“Oh, are you so sure about that?” Deceit asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Virgil frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing. I just wondered how you can be so sure that it was Roman who has been nice to you. How do you know that it wasn’t me, pretending to be Roman?”

Virgil froze, a distraught look on his face.

“N-no…you’re lying,” he said with a shaky voice.

Deceit smirked.

“Maybe I am. Maybe I am not. Who knows?” he shrugged.

“But fact is that I’ve done it before with Patton, and I was pretty convincing. Who says I haven’t done it with Roman as well?”

There was a flash of amusement in Deceit’s eyes as he watched Virgil growing more and more bewildered.

But suddenly he heard a voice calling for the anxious side.

Deceit slowly turned around, eyes wide.

“You gotta be kidding me,” he mumbled angrily.

\-------------------------

Roman had followed the squirrel through the forest for some time before it suddenly stopped on a tree.

“What’s the matter, little friend?” the prince asked when he caught up with the gnawer.

The animal squeaked and looked ahead.

Roman did so as well, and saw a cave in front of them. He knitted his brows.

“What the-What would he do in a cave?” the prince wondered.

“Are you sure he’s in there?” the fanciful side turned to the gnawer.

If a squirrel could look offended, Roman was sure the furred animal just looked at him like that.

“Okay, okay. I believe you,” the prince said soothingly before he made his way into the cave.

\-------------------------

“Virgil!” the prince shouted, walking through the cave.

The dark trait perked up his ears. That was Roman’s voice.

“I’m here!” he responded as loud as he could. He couldn’t help but smirk at the lying side who looked very unpleased.

Deceit couldn’t believe it. How did the prince find them? Roman must be more powerful in his kingdom than he had thought.

A few moments later the prince arrived at the two other sides. When he saw Deceit, he looked confused at the snake-faced side.

“What are _you_ doing here? Where is Virgil?”

Deceit smirked.

“Hello, Creativity.”

“Um, I’m down here, Roman,” Virgil answered, still standing at the bottom of the slope.

Roman raised an eyebrow, looking down the steep slope.

“What are you doing down there?”

“Oh, I just thought it would be nice,” the dark trait said ironically.

Roman knitted his brows in confusion.

Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Deceit pushed me.”

Roman’s eyes widened.

“What? Why?” the fanciful side asked angrily, drawing his sword and pointing it towards Deceit.

The prince went closer to the edge of the slope, leaning down and offering Virgil his hand.

The anxious side took Roman’s hand. The creative side never took his eyes off of Deceit while helping Virgil to climb the wall of rock.

When the dark trait finally stood next to Roman, the fanciful side examined the minor injuries on his hands and knees with a concerned look. He gently grabbed the youngest’s chin and turned his head a bit, inspecting the scratch on his cheek.

“Look at what he has done to you,” Roman mumbled, frowning.

“It’s not that bad. I’m fine,” Virgil answered, pushing Roman’s hand away from his chin.

“Nothing’s fine,” Roman growled and swirled around to face Deceit again, his sword pointing towards the villain.

“You chose the wrong day to mess with me,” he said threatening, stepping towards Deceit.

“What’s your plan? To get rid of Virgil and take his place?” Roman asked angrily.

“Oh, Roman. You’re so smart,” Deceit responded ironically.

“Maybe I should kill you,” Roman said between gritted teeth. There was a brief expression of fear on Deceit’s face before he played it off and scoffed.

“I would like to see you try,” Deceit replied, smirking challengingly.

“Roman,” Virgil interrupted and sighed, trying to calm the prince down, because he thought that the fanciful side was overreacting.

“What? No one would miss him. It wouldn’t matter if he was gone,” the prince said without looking away from the deceiving side.

“Well, it would matter to Thomas. Deceit is a side of him, after all,” the anxious side responded.

“I don’t think we need him. We got along just fine without him. I don’t see why he is necessary.”

Virgil perked up at these words, grabbing Roman’s shoulder and pushing past him, so that he stood between the prince and Deceit.

He glared at the creative side.

“Roman, stop,” Virgil growled.

The addressed one looked at him confused.

“What has gotten into you? He is the villain,” Roman said, nodding in Deceits direction.

Virgil held the prince’s gaze.

“Go,” Virgil said over his shoulder to Deceit.

Deceit looked as confused as Roman, but at the sight of Roman’s angry face and his sword pointing in his direction he decided that it was smarter to leave.

“You have seen the last of me,” the deceiving side lied as he left the cave.

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Virgil answered, not looking away from Roman.

When Deceit was gone, Roman looked at the youngest in disbelieve.

“What was that?” he asked upset, not understanding.

Virgil didn’t answer. He went past Roman and left the cave as well.

\-------------------------

Roman followed his obviously pissed off boyfriend through the woods.

“Why did you let him go?” he asked, but he didn’t receive an answer.

“Why did you even protect him?”

Virgil still didn’t make any move to stop.

Eventually Roman had had enough of it. He caught up to the anxious side, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

Virgil narrowed his eyes.

“Do you realize what you said back there?” he asked angrily.

“What do you mean?” Roman rolled his eyes, getting slightly irritated by Virgil’s behavior.

“You said the exact same words you said a while ago about me. The exact same words, Roman,” Virgil almost shouted.

Virgil had defended Deceit, although the lying side had just tried to trap him, because he somehow could relate to him. He reminded him of himself when he wasn’t wanted.

Roman narrowed his eyes before they widened when he realized what Virgil was talking about. He hadn’t notice that he had said that.

“I never thought you would say something like that ever again. Have you learned nothing? I thought you had changed,” Virgil said a bit quieter.

Roman looked sadly at his boyfriend.

“Virgil,” he began softly, but the anxious side interrupted him.

“No! Just tell me: Would you have gotten rid of me like you wanted to do with Deceit just this minute? Did you think the same way about me back then? Because if so, I can’t stand that.”

As he spoke, tears began to rise in the corners of his eyes. Deceit’s words earlier must have affected him more than he had thought. The thought that Roman might never has changed his opinion about him, and that most of the prince’s kindness was just a trick of the deceiving side let his heart ache badly.

As he began to sob he turned around and wanted to go away from Roman, but the creative side grabbed his wrist. Virgil shook the prince’s hand off, but Roman didn’t give up so easily, this time grabbing the youngest’s shoulder, turning him around and pulling him close.

Virgil gave up fighting the creative side and began to cry into Roman’s shoulder. He couldn’t stop for a few minutes, and Roman was just rubbing comforting circles on his back. Eventually the youngest calmed down, and took a step back from the prince, wiping off the tears from his face with the sleeves of his hoodie.

Roman looked at him softly.

“I’m sorry, love. I hadn’t realized what I had said earlier. But I assure you that I didn’t mean to hurt you. I like you, just the way you are. I wouldn’t change a thing about you. I accept you for who you are.”

Virgil sniffed, looking up at the prince with red puffy eyes.

Roman couldn’t help but pull him close again, stroking his hair affectionately.

“I’m so glad that you’re okay. I was so worried about you,” the fanciful side stated.

“And you were right. As much as I don’t want to admit it, Deceit is one of Thomas’ sides, and he probably is important somehow.”

“But he’s still a jerk,” the prince added.

Virgil couldn’t stifle a laugh.

Roman smiled as well.

The anxious side looked up at the creative side again.

“Wait, what about these quakes? Do you know what’s causing them?” Virgil asked curiously, remembering what they were actually here for.

Roman’s smile faltered a bit as he hesitated to answer his boyfriend.

Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Roman?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As an apology for the long wait on this chapter I want to let you know that the next chapter is coming soon.
> 
> Besides, you can find me on Tumblr (panicattheeverywheremcr). My account is quite new and I reblog Sanders Sides stuff most of the time.  
> Anyway, I hope you're all doing alright!


	16. I will be your remedy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter! I hope you like it. There's mainly angst, but also a bit fluff.  
> The title is inspired by the song Remedy by Adele.
> 
> WARNINGS: a lot of arguing, somewhat detailed description of an anxiety attack, fainting

The next few days Roman and Virgil argued a lot. Mainly about how Roman wanted to go back to his kingdom to check if everything was all right and to help search for the dragon.

But Virgil didn’t approve of this idea at all. He was so worried that Roman might get hurt. Or worse.

“I don’t understand why your soldiers can’t deal with the dragon on their own,” Virgil said, crossing his arms. They were currently standing in the living room, arguing again.

Roman sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Because _I’m_ the prince and I have to participate in defending the castle and protecting the people in my kingdom. What kind of authority figure would I be if I just leaned back and let my soldiers do all the dangerous tasks? They wouldn’t take me seriously anymore,” the creative side explained.

Virgil pouted in disapproval.

“But why do you have to be at the front line? You could just command them from your castle.”

“Because I can fight, and we need everyone who knows how to handle a sword.”

“But-,” Virgil exclaimed, but he was cut off by the prince.

“Look, it’s no use to fight over this any more. I’m going to my kingdom to support my soldiers. And that’s it!” Roman said determined.

“That’s not fair, Roman! You can’t decide that on your own!” Virgil shouted back.

Roman raised an eyebrow by that.

“Oh, no? And why is that so?”

“Because…,” Virgil began, searching for a good reason.

“Because of Thomas! He needs his creativity! Who can imagine what would happen to him if you get hurt!”

Roman scoffed.

“Oh stop. This isn’t about Thomas. This is about you being afraid of the thought of me standing up against a seemingly overpowered creature. But guess what, that’s not the first monster I’ve vanquished.”

“But…,” Virgil tried to argue desperately, but Roman cut him off once more.

“No! Just because you’re so afraid doesn’t mean that I have to be afraid as well. I never was a coward and I never will be!”

“Roman-”

“No! This conversation is over!” Roman decided, and with that he went to his room, leaving the anxious side behind in the living room.

Virgil needed to sit down for a moment. This fight had been intense. Just like the many other ones they had had in recent days. It wasn’t that he couldn’t understand Roman’s point.

It was just that whenever he thought about Roman going back to his kingdom to stand up against that dragon, he had the feeling of his chest being in a vice. Horrifying images of an injured Roman came to his mind, and when it got extremely bad he even saw him dead.

Virgil couldn’t stand these thoughts.

He had been on edge for days now, and he wasn’t sure how he had managed not to have a complete breakdown by now.

He took a few deep breaths to stop his whole body from shaking, something he had done often in recent days, every time after Roman and he had fought.

Eventually Patton came into the living room.

When he saw Virgil sitting on the couch, he slowly sat next to him.

“Hey, kiddo. Are you okay?” he asked softly, noticing that the youngest looked very anxious.

Virgil looked at Patton and tried to smile a bit, but failed miserably.

“It’s just the usual,” the anxious side shrugged.

“Are you two still arguing about it?” Patton asked sadly.

Virgil only nodded, not being able to speak about the fight.

“Well, I can understand both of you, but I think that Roman is immovable in his decision,” Patton sighed.

“Is there anything that could help you?” the moral side asked.

Virgil shrugged, he was just still too churned up.

“Do you mind if I give you a hug?” Patton asked carefully, not wanting to invade the dark trait’s personal space without permission.

Virgil shook his head and leaned against Patton who wrapped his arms around the youngest.

“I’m sure you two will figure it out. Everything’s gonna be fine,” the moral side said, rubbing the anxious side’s arm to comfort him.

Virgil took a deep breath.

“Thanks Pat. I hope you’re right.”

\-------------------------

Later that day Roman came into the living room to tell everyone that he was leaving to his kingdom.

But apparently Patton was at the supermarket, and Logan was probably in his room.

That left Virgil sitting on the couch and listening to his music.

Roman sighed, knowing that Virgil wouldn’t let him go without any protest.

He stood in front of the youngest to gain his attention.

Virgil lifted his headphones from his ears, hanging them around his neck and looking up at Roman.

Roman wasn’t sure what to say. They hadn’t reconciled yet after their argument earlier.

“Um, I’m leaving now. I’ll be back in a few days,” the fanciful side said awkwardly, not knowing if Virgil was still angry with him.

The youngest crossed his arms, and turned his head away from the prince.

Roman sighed dramatically.

“Oh, come on. I don’t want to leave like this,” Roman said.

“Then don’t,” Virgil said plainly.

Roman groaned irritated.

“You know that I have to.”

The dark trait sighed, looking down slightly.

“Yeah, I know,” Virgil mumbled.

“I understand why you want to go. But doesn’t my opinion count for anything?” the dark trait asked a bit louder.

“Of course it does, Virge,” Roman said softly.

“Yeah? Because earlier you acted like you didn’t care at all!” Virgil said, standing up from the couch. His whole body was shaking from anxiety and anger.

“And on top of that you decided on your own that the conversation was over. Well, maybe it was for you, but not for me! Maybe you can talk to your minions like that, but not to me!”

“Oh my god! Can we please stop bickering?” Roman exclaimed, rolling his eyes annoyed.

“No! Because we didn’t come to terms with each other yet! You can’t just decide to stop fighting just because you don’t want to hear what I have to say! That’s not how this works!”

“For god’s sake! I’m so tired of arguing with you! I can’t do this anymore! It can’t go on like that!” Roman snapped.

At these words Virgil’s eyes widened, and he took a step back from the prince. This was the final straw. He had reached his limit. The anxious side could feel how the air was drawn out of his lungs and how his chest was tightening.

Was Roman about to break up with him? The thought shot through his head, and he had the feeling that he couldn’t breathe.

It seemed that Roman didn’t notice, because he was rambling on.

But Virgil couldn’t hear him talking, because of the loud and shrill sound in his ears. And he didn’t really want to hear the words coming from Roman’s mouth, too afraid that he might be right about the prince breaking up with him.

But he couldn’t breathe and his lungs started to hurt.

So he took flight.

He stormed past Roman, heading for the stairs. Roman looked surprised and confused after the anxious side.

The creative side followed him, unsure about what was going on.

Midway up the stairs Virgil stumbled and fell on his knees, but he quickly stood up again, running upstairs.

By now Roman had realized that the youngest was having a panic attack, and he tried to help him, but Virgil didn’t seem to hear him. Instead, the youngest still tried to hurry towards his room.

But the dark trait stumbled again and fell to the floor, feeling dizzy, because he was hyperventilating by now.

He could see Roman running towards him and trying to tell him something, but he couldn’t hear him, and he didn’t want to.

So he tried to shuffle backward on his hands and feet, and to crawl away from the creative side. But his strength abandoned his body, and his vision began to blur.

The second Roman reached the anxious side darkness overcame Virgil and he fainted.

Roman was holding the unconscious side in his arms, shaking him slightly and shouting his name. But Virgil didn’t open his eyes.

Suddenly Logan appeared next to the creative side, eyes wide in shock. He must have come out of his room because of the noise.

“What happened?” the logical side asked alarmed, kneeling down next to the two sides on the floor.

Roman was so churned up that he had to swallow hard, and shook his head before he could answer.

“W-we had a fight. He p-panicked,” the prince managed to say, interrupted by sobs.

“And then he fainted. I see,” Logan concluded.

He put a hand on Virgil’s chest to check if he was breathing regularly again. He nodded when he realized that this was the case.

“Let us bring him to his room,” he said to Roman, who just nodded sadly, and lifted the youngest up.

When they had arrived at the dark trait’s room, Roman put Virgil on his bed.

“What now?” Roman asked Logan.

“Now we can just wait. He should wake up soon,” Logan answered.

“I’ll leave you two alone. Call me when something is wrong,” the logical side said as he made his way out of the room. He stopped in the doorframe, turning his head.

“And Roman,” he said over his shoulder.

“Hm?” Roman looked at him expectantly.

“Please try to solve this issue in a calm manner.”

The prince sighed.

“Of course,” the fanciful side responded.

Logan nodded and closed the door behind him.

Roman looked down at the unconscious side on the bed, and sighed again. Then he put the desk chair next to Virgil’s bed, sitting down. He ran a hand over his face, trying to calm down from what had just happened.

He had been so stupid. He should have known that something like that would happen. It had just been too much in recent days. And he had contributed to this outcome. If only he hadn’t been so stubborn.

The images of Virgil’s attack came back to his mind. He had never seen him so panicked. And it had been his fault. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He was a shitty boyfriend. He had behaved like an asshole.

The prince put his elbows on his knees and hung his head. He squinched his eyes shut to keep the tears from flowing.

“Roman?” he heard a quiet voice.

The prince quickly raised his head, being met with a tired looking Virgil.

“Oh, thank goodness, you’re awake!” Roman exclaimed.

Virgil was slightly confused, noticing that the prince had teary eyes.

“What happened?” the youngest asked, slowly sitting up and putting a hand to his head.

Roman looked down sadly.

“We had a fight, and you panicked. I couldn’t calm you down, and you fainted,” he admitted.

Virgil blinked as the memories came back.

“Oh yeah, I remember.”

There was a moment of silence between them.

“Alright, just say what you wanted to say earlier. Let’s just get over it quickly,” the anxious side said, hugging his knees and putting his head on top them.

Roman knitted his brows.

“What do you mean?”

“You wanted to break up with me, didn’t you?” Virgil mumbled, looking at the creative side out of the corners of his eyes. When the anxious side thought about it, he actually could understand it. He was constricting Roman’s freedom by telling him not to go to his kingdom and to stay here.

Roman was taken aback.

“What?! No! Virgil, honey, I could never break up with you! I’ve become so infatuated with you it’s driving me crazy!” Roman admitted.

Virgil looked at Roman with wide eyes. Then he blushed hard, turning his head embarrassed.

“Oh, okay,” was all he managed to say.

Then he felt a weight on the mattress, and arms wrapping around him from behind.

“Please tell me that you didn’t have that attack because you thought that I was breaking up with you,” Roman said.

But Virgil remained silent, only squeezing Roman’s arm in response.

“Babe, I would never break up with you just because we were having an argument. Remember that,” the fanciful side said softly, placing a kiss on top of Virgil’s head.

The youngest only nodded. He was just so glad that the prince didn’t want to break up with him.

They were sitting like this for a while before Roman spoke again.

“I’ll stay another night and leave tomorrow. I have to know that you’ll be okay.”

Virgil squirmed himself out of Roman’s hug and turned around.

“I don’t want to hold you back. If you want to go, then go,” the dark trait said, trying to avoid looking into Roman’s eyes and looking down slightly instead.

Roman smiled softly at his boyfriend, and pulled him into a hug.

“I really don’t. I have to make sure that you’ll be okay when I leave. And I want to spend this night by holding you in my arms. If that’s okay.”

Roman couldn’t see that Virgil was blushing hard in his arms.

“Of course it is,” the youngest said quietly, nodding.

“I just wish I could make this whole situation easier for you, so you wouldn’t worry this much,” Roman sighed, stroking Virgil’s hair.

At these words Virgil got an idea. He looked up and into Roman’s eyes.

“Take me with you,” he said determinedly.

The prince looked at him in a mix of surprise and shock.

“Virge, no,” Roman said, shaking his head.

“I would never put you in danger like that,” he added.

Virgil shook his head.

“No, I don’t want to accompany you when you search for the dragon. But I would like to meet your life guards. I think it would help, if I know the people who are responsible for protecting your life,” Virgil explained.

Roman blinked at his boyfriend before an amused smirk appeared on his lips.

“They won’t be amused by that. They might think you don’t trust their abilities, and that you want to check if they’re good enough in what they’re supposed to do,” Roman explained.

Virgil looked unimpressed.

“I don’t care. Besides, that’s exactly why I want to meet them,” he said, crossing his arms.

Roman chuckled.

“I know. That’ll be fun,” the prince said with a grin, ruffling the youngest’s hair.

Virgil groaned, trying to fix his hair again. But he was interrupted by Roman pulling him down on the mattress with him. The creative side snuggled into his boyfriend and cuddled close.

A soft smile appeared on the anxious side’s face, as he cuddled Roman back.

After a while they both fell asleep.

\-------------------------

Virgil woke up with a gasp. He was breathing heavily and needed a moment to realize that he was lying in his bed in his room.

He had had a terrible nightmare where Roman got hurt as he fought the dragon.

The anxious side turned around and saw Roman lying next to him, sleeping soundly. Virgil immediately cuddled closer to his boyfriend, clutching at the prince’s shirt tightly.

Roman woke up at that movement, and looked down at Virgil, who had curled up into a ball by his chest.

The creative side knitted his brows in concern as he realized that the youngest was shaking slightly.

“Virge? Are you all right?” the prince asked, almost whispering.

Virgil only shook his head slightly, wrapping an arm around Roman’s middle and pulling him close.

The creative side sighed compassionately. He assumed that his little storm cloud had had a nightmare.

Roman hugged him back, rubbing comforting circles on his back. Then he began to hum a melody. The anxious side’s breathing began to calm down a bit as he was distracted by listening to the melody. Then Roman began to quietly sing the refrain of “Remedy” by Adele.

_When the pain cuts you deep_  
  
When the night keeps you from sleeping  
  
Just look and you will see  
  
That I will be your remedy  
  
The fanciful side looked down at his boyfriend, who looked so small in his arms right now. Virgil looked up at him with unshed tears in his eyes. Roman put one hand on the anxious side’s cheek, and wiped the tear away that was about to run down his cheek.  
  
_When the world seems so cruel_  
  
And your heart makes you feel like a fool  
  
I promise you will see  
  
That I will be, I will be your remedy  
  
Roman stopped singing and pulled Virgil close.

“Are you feeling better?” he asked the one in his arms.

Virgil nodded, humming in approval.

Roman took a deep breath. This whole situation wasn’t easy for both of them. He wasn’t surprised that it churned up Virgil and made him worry this much. And Roman felt sorry for him. The prince didn’t want his boyfriend to suffer from worrying like this.

Roman made a mental note to ask Logan’s advice on how he could help Virgil properly if the dark trait had another anxiety attack sometime. Although he hoped that would never happen again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I was listening to the song "Remedy" by Adele I immediately thought about this scene where Roman comforted Virgil after a nightmare. So I had to write it.
> 
> Also I hope the anxiety attack wasn't too severe to read.  
> Love you, guys! <3


End file.
